Royal Ulster Constabulary

Jeffrey M Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the three former senior officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC, Chris Albiston, Raymond White and Freddie Hall, who were named by the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) on 24 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1415W, following a report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, were formally interviewed concerning any alleged offence during the course of the ombudsman's investigation into the death of Raymond McCord Junior and related matters; and if he will take steps to clear their names.

Paul Goggins: The three former senior officers, Chris Albiston, Raymond White and Freddie Hall, named by the right hon. Gentleman were not formally interviewed in connection with any alleged offence in the course of the Police Ombudsman's investigation. I am happy to put on record that these officers, in common with many colleagues, served with commitment and distinction in very demanding policing roles in Northern Ireland.

Departments: Legislation

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Solicitor-General what legislative provisions within the responsibility of the Law Officers' Departments introduced since 1997 have not yet been brought into force.

Vera Baird: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains no central record of whether the defendants it prosecutes are public sector employees or whether the offences for which defendants are prosecuted relate to their official duties.
	This information may be held on individual case files, but could be obtained only by locating and examining a huge numbers of individual case files and would incur disproportionate cost (code of practice on access to information, part 2, clause 9).

Police Cautions

David Drew: To ask the Solicitor-General what monitoring the Law Officers' Departments undertake of the operation of the issuing of conditional cautions; and how many such cautions have been issued in each police authority.

Vera Baird: The joint Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)/Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) prosecution team is responsible for the implementation of and the day to day monitoring of the conditional cautioning scheme.
	Monitoring on the use of the conditional cautions is undertaken at both a national and local level. An information data set has been produced, which contains national and local performance data including the number of offenders being conditionally cautioned and the types of offences conditional cautions have been issued for. The information data set is issued by the national prosecution team on a monthly basis to all staff across areas with lead responsibility for conditional cautioning.
	Information contained in the information data set is obtained from the CPS case management system and management information system as well as from local areas and Home Office research, development and statistics (RDS) data. Collating the data in this way allows for a consistent, national recording mechanism which does not require additional reporting from areas.
	Conditional cautioning is being implemented across each criminal justice area in a phased approach. To date, conditional cautioning is operational in 93 police basic command units across 41 out of the 42 criminal justice areas. Full implementation of the scheme across 230 basic command units is expected to be achieved by April 2008. There have been 2,963 conditional cautions issued nationally since the first pilot schemes were introduced in 2005. A breakdown of the number of conditional cautions in each CPS area is also available from:
	conditional.cautioning:cps.gsi.gov.uk
	In Gloucestershire, conditional cautions were introduced on 25 June 2007 in the Cotswold and Stroud division. However, to date no conditional cautions have been issued in this division.

Dover House: Official Hospitality

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many receptions have been held at Dover House in each of the last five years.

David Cairns: The number of receptions held at Dover House is as shown in the following table. The receptions not funded by the Scotland Office were third party events organised and funded by organisations such as charities and trade associations.
	
		
			   Third party events  Scotland Office funded events  Total number of events 
			 2002-03 21 1 28 
			 2003-04 14 8 22 
			 2004-05 24 1 31 
			 2005-06 11 5 16 
			 2006-07 25 5 30

Departments: Official Visits

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much was spent on overnight accommodation by civil servants within his Department's areas of responsibilities in the last 12 months.

Peter Hain: A total of £12,263.38 was spent on overnight accommodation by civil servants in the 12 months to 31 March 2007, the latest period for which we have final figures. This reflects the increased travel requirements of Cardiff based staff in support of the heavy Parliamentary legislative programme delivered by the Wales Office.

Pipelines: Natural Gas

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the Welsh Assembly Government on health and safety and the new Welsh gas pipeline.

Peter Hain: My hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire (Nick Ainger), and I had regular discussions with Welsh Assembly Government ministerial colleagues, including about the health and safety considerations of both phases of the Liquid Natural Gas pipeline (LNG), and I will continue to do so as necessary.
	I am confident that stringent conditions are attached to the approval. All pipelines in the United Kingdom are designed, tested and operated in accordance with the strictest standards established by the Health and Safety Executive and the Institute of Gas Engineers.
	Both the National Grid (NG) and the Milford Haven Port Authority have been working closely with Government and security services to make sure they have robust security arrangements.
	The NG takes safety and security of people and assets extremely seriously and continually carry out thorough reviews of safety and security at their sites around the country based on potential risks, and have a number of procedures in place. In 35 years the UK's high-pressure National Grid Transmission System has never experienced a serious incident affecting life or property, and I am sure that NG are doing their utmost to maintain this exemplary record.

Oral Questions

Graham Allen: To ask the Leader of the House when she expects the new rota for oral questions to be completed; and what provision she expects to make for  (a) regional Ministers and  (b) the Minister for the East Midlands to answer oral questions.

Helen Goodman: The Leader of the House confirmed the questions rota until the summer recess on 4 July for departmental Ministers. The rota, and related matters including the issue of question times for Regional Ministers, will be considered during the summer recess.

Afghanistan: Reconstruction

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many reconstruction projects have been undertaken in Helmand province over the last five years; and where these have taken place.

Shahid Malik: Through the national solidarity programme, the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) has approved 697 reconstruction projects in Helmand of which 250 have been completed. These have taken place in Lashkar Gah, Nahr-e-Saraj, Kajki, Musa Qala, Baghran, Now Zad, Washer, Nad Ali, Nawa-i-Barakzai, Dishu, Garmsir, Sangin and Reg. Through DFID's support to GoA's rural water and sanitation programme, 229 wells to provide clean drinking water in Helmand have been completed. These are located in Lashkar Gah, Nahr-e-Saraj, Nawa and Nad Ali. Work is also being undertaken on 50 kilometres of DFID-funded roads in Lashkar Gah.
	Since April 2006, the UK has funded 150 quick impact projects through the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) based in Lashkar Gah. Of these, 81 were reconstruction projects and 52 have been completed. These have taken place in Lashkar Gah, Gereshk, Sangin, Garmsir, Musa Qala and Nahr-e-Saraj.
	In addition to this, the United States government through USAID have completed 75 projects through its alternative livelihoods programme over the last two years in Helmand. These projects have covered every district in Helmand except for Dishu.

Afghanistan: Reconstruction

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many reconstruction projects undertaken in Helmand province over the last five years have been destroyed or delayed due to fighting.

Shahid Malik: Over the past 30 years, infrastructure in Afghanistan, including Helmand Province, has sustained substantial damage due to conflict, and neglect resulting from the collapse of governmental institutions. Since the UK assumed the lead of the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in April 2006, the security situation has not been suitably permissive to allow either the PRT or provincial authorities to undertake a full battle damage assessment, encompassing destroyed or delayed projects, across Helmand.
	The PRT works closely with the provincial authorities to undertake consultations with communities across the province to enable them to compile a provincial development plan (PDP) that will address the reconstruction and development needs of Helmand. The civilian and military elements within the PRT are working in close partnership to minimise the future risk of damage to infrastructure and non-combatants.

Afghanistan: Reconstruction

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many reconstruction projects in the Helmand province have been  (a) started and  (b) completed in the last two years.

Shahid Malik: I have been asked to reply.
	Through the National Solidarity Programme, the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) has approved 697 reconstruction projects in Helmand over the last two years, of which 250 have been completed. Through DFID's support to GoA's Rural Water and Sanitation Programme, 1,000 wells to provide clean drinking water in Helmand have been surveyed, and 229 have been completed. Since April 2006, the UK has funded 150 Quick Impact Projects through the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) based in Lashkar Gah. Of these, 81 were reconstruction projects and 52 have been completed. Work is also ongoing on 50 kilometres of DFID-funded roads in Lashkar Gah.
	In addition to this, the United States Government through USAID have completed 75 projects through its Alternative Livelihoods Programme over the last two years in Helmand.

Armed Forces: Health

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what responsibility his Department has for the health care of service personnel ill or injured  (a) due to duties and  (b) due to incidents unrelated to duties.

Derek Twigg: The MOD is responsible for ensuring the medical care for serving members of the armed forces. The actual delivery of health care is performed by a combination of the Defence Medical Services, the NHS, coalition forces or private medical providers, depending on the geographical location, circumstances and clinical need of the patient.
	If service personnel require medical treatment when on leave in the UK away from their normal duty station, they should obtain it from local NHS facilities. If inpatient treatment is required, administrative arrangements are in place for the hospital to inform the relevant service authority, in order that the appropriate military medical and welfare processes can be set in motion, which may include transfer to facilities convenient to home or unit if necessary.

Armed Forces: Life Insurance

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provision he has made for personnel being deployed abroad to assist them in securing life insurance.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 16 July 2007
	MOD already provides significant financial support for attributable death during service. These were improved under the 2005 Armed Forces Pension Scheme and the Compensation Scheme introduced on 6 April 2005.
	As a matter of policy MOD leaves the decision whether to take out additional cover in the form of personal insurance to the individual as individual needs vary and personal insurance is a complex issue.
	In the past, service personnel have sometimes encountered difficulties in obtaining affordable life insurance that provides cover for war risks such as chemical or biological attack.
	One scheme currently available to all service personnel, including those deployed abroad is PAX which provides personal accident and life cover. PAX covers war risks, but has in the past imposed restrictions (such as closing the scheme or introducing war and terrorism risks) for new members.
	In addition, MOD's Service Risks Insurance Premiums Refunds scheme currently contributes towards extra life insurance premiums incurred by personnel involved in certain high risk activities such as flying. The compensation available is 90 per cent. of the extra premium up to a total sum assured, which is increased every year in line with service pay and is currently £157,000.
	In addition, the MOD launched on 8 May a new life insurance scheme, aimed exclusively at service personnel, Service Life Insurance (SLI). The scheme is available to all service personnel—including those deployed abroad on operations—and guarantees affordable cover, including against the risks of war and terrorism throughout their service and civilian life. Premiums are comparable to those paid by civilians, with no premium loading for personnel deployed on operations—or those involved in high risk activities.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current percentage shortfalls are for each pinch point trade in the  (a) Army,  (b) Royal Navy and  (c) Royal Air Force.

Bob Ainsworth: A manning pinch point is defined as a trade or area of expertise where there is insufficient trained strength (officers or ratings/other ranks) to perform directed tasks. This might be as a result of adherence to single-service harmony guidelines, under manning, and/or levels of commitment that exceed the resourced manpower ceiling for the trades or areas of expertise involved.
	The percentage shortfall for each pinch point trade is as follows:
	
		
			  Army 
			  Pinch point trade  Percentage shortfall 
			 Ammunition Technician 19.41 
			 Clerk of Works 16.28 
			 Intelligence Operator 9.21 
			 Vehicle Mechanic 7.85 
			 Armourer 9.21 
			 Recovery Mechanic 10.58 
			 Mechanical Fitter 5.36 
			 ITU Nurse 38.46 
			 EM Nurse 45.28 
			 Radiologist 80.00 
			 Orthopaedic Surgeon 53.85 
			 General Surgeon 50.00 
			 UAV Operator Level 4 47.71 
			 Anaesthetist 45.95 
			 General Medical Practitioner 44.39 
			 Radiographer 42.86 
			 Registered General Nurse 36.04 
			 ME Geographical 27.05 
			 Explosives Ordnance Disposal 26.11 
			 ODP 44.64 
			 MEC3S 17.95 
			 Postal and Courier Operator 9.36 
			 Chef 7.15 
			 Petroleum Operator 3.77 
			 IS Engineer 3.44 
		
	
	
		
			  Royal Navy 
			  Pinch point trade  Percentage shortfall 
			 Merlin aircrew (pilots) 32 
			 Merlin aircrew (observers) 43 
			 Merlin aircrew (aircrew) 30 
			 Harrier GR7 Flying Instructors 85 
			 Leading Seaman (Warfare) 42 
			 Ableseaman (Divers) 3 
			 Royal Marine (Marine) 9 
			 Royal Marine (Corporal) 11 
			 Royal Marine (Sergeant) 13 
			 Leading Air Engineer Technician 35 
			 Petty Officer (Mine Warfare) 33 
			 Leading Aircraft Controllers 36 
			 Ableseaman Warfare Specialist (Sensor Submarine) 32 
			 Ableseaman Warfare Specialist (Tactical Submarine) 32 
			 Strategic Weapon System Junior Rates (Engineering Technician) 30 
			 Strategic Weapon System Junior Rates (Leading Engineering Technician) 25 
			 Marine Engineer Submarine Nuclear Watchkeepers—CatA2 28 
			 Marine Engineer Submarine Nuclear Watchkeepers—Cat B 19 
		
	
	
		
			  Royal Air Force 
			  Pinch point trade  Percentage shortfall 
			 Operations Support (Intelligence) 2.5 
			 Operations Support (Regiment) 12.3 
			 Operations Support (Provost) 5.2 
			 PMRAFNS (Nurses) 19.8 
			 Weapons Systems (Air Loadmaster) 10.2 
			 Gunner 13.0 
			 Registered General Nurse (Other Ranks) 11.7 
			 Medical 28.8 
			 Musician 13.1 
			 Pharmaceutical Health Technician 15 
			 Radiographer 15.4 
			 RAF Police 6.2 
			 Registered Mental Nurse 21.3

Defence Agencies

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many people were employed within the  (a) Defence Housing Executive and  (b) Defence Estates in each year since 1997, broken down by occupation;
	(2)  how many redundancies there were within  (a) the Defence Housing Executive and  (b) Defence Estates in each year since 1997, broken down by occupation.

Derek Twigg: Details of civilian full-time equivalent (FTE) strengths are given in the following table.
	
		
			  FTE strengths 
			   Defence Estates( 1)  Defence Housing Executive( 2) 
			  As at April:   
			 1997 1,230 — 
			 1998 1,160 — 
			 1999 1,240 1,020 
			 2000 1,220 960 
			 2001 1,350 990 
			 2002 1,420 940 
			 2003 1,550 880 
			 2004 2,450 — 
			 2005 2,820 — 
			 2006 2,900 — 
			 2007 2,860 — 
		
	
	Details of civilian FTE redundancies are given in the following table.
	
		
			  FTE redundancies 
			   Defence Estates( 1) 
			  As at April:  
			 1997 (3)— 
			 1998 10 
			 1999 (3)— 
			 2000 15 
			 2001 (3)— 
			 2002 (3)— 
			 2003 10 
			 2004 10 
			 2005 (3)— 
			 2006 30 
			 2007 60 
			 (1) Known as the Defence Estates Organisation until 1 March 1999 and subsequently merged with Defence Housing Executive on 1 April 2004; formally ceased to be a Defence Agency on 1 April 2007.  (2) Defence Housing Executive was formed April 1999 and merged with Defence Estates on 1 April 2004.  (3 )Denotes less than 5.   Notes:  1. These table use the revised definition of civilian personnel (see www.dasa.mod.uk for details).  2. Figures include values for part-time staff proportionate to those of full-time staff.  3. All figures are rounded to the nearest ten; as a result totals may not always equal the sum of the parts. For visibility rounding has only been applied to figures of ten and above. 4. For DHE strength figures are available for the first five years it existed, but redundancy are not separately identifiable. 
		
	
	Information relating to occupation is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Defence Export Services Organisation

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of the Defence Export Services Organisation.

Bob Ainsworth: The Ministry of Defence will continue to offer high quality support to UK based defence manufacturers to help them win contracts for legitimate defence exports.

Departments: Early Retirement

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his staff took early retirement in the last five years; at what cost; what grades of staff took early retirement; and what percentage of each grade took early retirement.

Derek Twigg: The information in respect of the number, grade and percentage of staff who took early retirement is provided in the following tables:
	
		
			  Table 1: Early retirement 2002-03 to 2006-07 
			   Headcount 
			 2002-03 700 
			 2003-04(1) 1,200 
			 2004-05 790 
			 2005-06 1,100 
			 2006-07 1,100 
			 (1) The streamlining of Head Office prior to the reoccupation of main building in London led to 540 personnel taking early retirement on compulsory early retirement on structural grounds.  Note:  This table excludes Royal Fleet auxiliary and locally engaged civilian staff for whom no information on civilian early retirements is available. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Early retirement 2002-03 to 2006-07 by grade 
			  Grade  2002-03  2003-04( 1)  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 Band B Level 1 10 50 10 20 30 
			 Band B Level 2 20 120 20 50 60 
			 Band C Level 1 50 120 80 160 110 
			 Band C Level 2 80 180 140 230 160 
			 Band D 90 220 100 230 170 
			 Band E Level 1 160 160 140 110 140 
			 Band E Level 2 50 60 40 50 40 
			 Other Non Industrial 20 20 10 20 20 
			 Industrial 160 150 130 90 200 
			 Trading Fund Personnel 70 120 110 160 180 
			 Total 700 1,200 790 1,100 1,100 
			 (1) The streamlining of Head Office prior to the reoccupation of main building in London led to 540 personnel taking early retirement on compulsory early retirement on structural grounds.   Note:  This table excludes Royal Fleet auxiliary and locally engaged civilian staff for whom no information on civilian early retirements is available. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Percentage of each grade that took early retirement 2002-03 to 2006-07( 1) 
			  Grade  2002-03  2003-04( 2)  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 Band B Level 1 1.9 9.2 1.7 2.2 4.6 
			 Band B Level 2 1.2 6.2 1.1 2.4 2.7 
			 Band C Level 1 1.1 2.4 1.5 2.8 1.8 
			 Band C Level 2 0.7 1.6 1.2 1.9 1.4 
			 Band D 0.6 1.6 0.7 1.6 1.3 
			 Band E Level 1 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.7 
			 Band E Level 2 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 
			 Other Non Industrial 3.5 1.4 3.0 4.8 3.0 
			 Industrial 0.9 1.0 0.8 0.6 1.4 
			 Trading Fund Personnel 0.6 1.0 1.0 1.4 1.7 
			 (1) Percentage is based solely on early retirement data by grade compared against a 13 month average strength profile by grade for each financial year.   Notes:  1 The streamlining of Head Office prior to the reoccupation of main building in London led to 540 personnel taking early retirement on compulsory early retirement on structural grounds.  2 This table excludes Royal Fleet auxiliary and locally engaged civilian staff for whom no information on civilian early retirements is available 
		
	
	The information requested about costs is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Racial Harassment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints of racial abuse relating to staff for which his Department is responsible have been  (a) investigated and  (b) upheld in the last 12 months.

Derek Twigg: The number of formal complaints of racial harassment in the Ministry of Defence and armed forces for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007, the latest period for which figures are available, was as follows:
	
		
			   Investigated  Upheld 
			 Armed forces 15 6 
			 MOD civil service 0 0 
		
	
	The Department's Unified Diversity Strategy makes clear that harassment of any kind is not tolerated in the Ministry of Defence or the armed forces. Revised complaints procedures were published in January 2007. On-going internal communications keep personnel informed of their rights and responsibilities.

Exservicemen: Hearing Impaired

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when and how ex-servicemen and women waiting for digital hearing aids due to service-related hearing loss will be informed of their priority status.

Derek Twigg: Advice regarding entitlement to priority treatment from the NHS is referenced in Leaflet 2 which is sent out by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency with the war pension disablement acceptance notification letter.
	Regular reminders about priority treatment for war pensioners are circulated by the Health Departments to senior NHS managers who are tasked to ensure that relevant clinical staff are aware. Reminder action, due this year will reference this issue. Priority for assessment, treatment, aids etc is decided by the clinician in charge based on clinical need.

Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK troops are deployed on operations in Iraq.

Des Browne: holding answer 16 July 2007
	 As of June 2007, around 5,500 UK armed forces personnel are deployed on operations in Iraq, although numbers do fluctuate due, for example, roulements and rest and recuperation breaks.

Military Bases: Wales

John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with Airbus Cimpa on the temporary use of redundant bays in the Red Dragon Hangar at MOD St Athan.

Derek Twigg: No formal discussions have taken place between the Ministry of Defence and Airbus Cimpa regarding this matter.

MV Bugaled Breizh

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 February 2007,  Official Report, column 321W, on the MV Bugalid Brieizh, whether his Department has received any communication from those conducting the French judicial investigation into the sinking of the Bugalid Brieizh; and whether a completed report of that investigation has been received.

Bob Ainsworth: The Department has received indirect communication from the French Tribunal conducting the inquiry into the loss of the fishing vessel Bugaled Breizh via the Home Office (United Kingdom Central Authority) and the French embassy, London. This has been for additional information to assist with their inquiries and declassification of signal messages respectively. The Department has not received or had sight of any official reports from the investigation.

Radioactive Materials: Transport

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether local incident management plans are put in place when special nuclear materials convoys travel from AWE Burghfield; and whether local authorities are informed before those convoys travel.

Bob Ainsworth: The transportation of nuclear and other hazardous materials is governed by the Radioactive Material (Road Transport) (Great Britain) Regulations 2002 and the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2004 (as amended in 2005). Although the Department is exempt from the regulations, it is nevertheless MOD policy to comply with their principles although they place no obligation on a carrier to inform local authorities. The publicly available Local Authority Emergency Services Information (LAESI) document provides the emergency services, local and health authorities with information on contingency arrangements for the transport of Special Nuclear Material.

Reserve Forces: Deployment

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many reservists are deployed on overseas operations, broken down by deployment location.

Bob Ainsworth: As at 31 March 2007, the latest figures available, reservists were deployed in joint operational areas (JOA) as follows:
	Iraq: 451
	Afghanistan: 359
	Balkans: 44.
	In addition, some 500 mobilised reservists were in the UK, predominantly undertaking pre-deployment training, post deployment leave or receiving medical treatment. Finally, 35 sponsored reserves were on mobilised service and serving in or between the JOAs and the UK.

Weapons

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many recorded missing  (a) weapons and  (b) weapons parts reports were made to the Royal Military Police between May 2002 and May 2007.

Bob Ainsworth: The number of weapons and weapon parts lost, missing or stolen from the armed forces between 2002 and 2007 is shown in the table for each whole calendar year. This provides details of all cases reported to the Royal Military Police's Service Police Crime Bureau and includes losses which have been investigated by the Ministry of Defence Police, Home Department Police Forces and other branches of the Service Police. The data covers a range of reported incidents, including weapons which have been lost or stolen in operational theatres and the loss of private firearms lodged in MOD armouries. The data is held by calendar year. To break it down in any other way could be done only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007( 1) 
			 Air Rifle or Pistol 0 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Automatic Weapon 0 2 0 1 0 0 
			 Heavy Arms 0 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Pistol 2 5 10 5 8 3 
			 Rifle 2 17 15 9 14 4 
			 Shotgun 0 0 0 0 0 2 
			 Explosives and Pyrotechnics 2 4 3 6 2 1 
			 Weapon component or attachment 0 6 0 1 6 2 
			 Other 0 1 4 13 1 1 
			 (1) As of 1 July

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many requests have been made by the Child Support Agency to HM Revenue and Customs in each  (a) month and  (b) quarter since January 2003 in respect of access to information on the incomes of non-resident parents; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 17 July 2007:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests have been made by the Child Support Agency to HM Revenue and Customs in each  (a) month and  (b) quarter since January 2003 in respect of access to information on the incomes of non-resident parents; and if he will make a statement.
	Such information as is available is set out in the attached table, which shows the number of requests dealt with by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) where the Child Support Agency has made a request for information on the non-resident parents income.
	The information supplied relates to queries dealt with by two parts of HMRC, the Centre of Research and Intelligence (CRI) and the National Insurance Contributions Office.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.
	
		
			  Number of requests actioned by the Centre of Research and Intelligence from 1 January 2003 to 24 June 2007 
			  Month  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 January 1,837 1,619 2,024 2,949 4,319 
			 February 1,587 2,082 2,227 2,470 3,096 
			 March 1,814 2,369 2,255 2,385 5,410 
			 Quarter 1 (January-March) 5,238 6,070 6,506 7,804 12,825 
			 April 1,576 2,727 2,581 2,257 3,315 
			 May 1,887 2,130 1,942 2,819 4,178 
			 June 2,072 2,030 1,930 2,420 2,657 
			 Quarter 2 (April-June) 5,535 6,887 6,453 7,496 7,493 
			 July 1,658 2,856 2,351 2,968  
			 August 2,319 2,143 2,058 2,385  
			 September 1,980 2,101 2,210 2,425  
			 Quarter 3 (July-September) 5,957 7,100 6,619 7,778  
			 October 2,877 2,714 2,219 3,779  
			 November 2,225 1,919 2,355 2,852  
			 December 1,444 1,810 1,467 1,927  
			 Quarter 4 (October-December) 6,546 6,443 6,041 8,558  
			 Total 23,276 26,500 25,619 31,636 20,318 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of referrals issued to National Insurance Contributions Office 
			  Year  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 to date 
			 Totals 3,597 8,452 18,883 35,448 53,795 6,294 
			  Note to table: The information on referrals to the National Insurance Contributions Office is only available annually

Child Support Agency: Fees and Charges

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what expenditure by the Child Support Agency on solicitor legal costs was in each year since 2000-01.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 17 July 2007:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of state promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total expenditure by the Child Support Agency on solicitor legal costs is for each year since 2000-01.
	The Agency's accounting system does not report solicitor's legal costs in a discreet expense account; as such I am unable to provide the information in the format requested.
	Solicitors legal costs are grouped together with court fees and charges into a single expense account code. The total costs of solicitors and court fees in each of the last six financial years is shown in the table below.
	
		
			  Financial year  £ million 
			 2006-07 2.158 
			 2005-06 1.408 
			 2004-05 0.896 
			 2003-02 0.606 
			 2002-03 0.526 
			 2001-02 0.498 
		
	
	The increase in legal costs in 2006-07 is a result of the increased legal enforcement action the Agency is undertaking as part of the Operational Improvement Plan.
	Information for the 2000-01 financial year is not available as this year falls outside of the legislative requirement to keep accounting records for six years.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Children: Maintenance

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  for what reasons the Child Support Agency offices in Birkenhead and Bolton have different criteria for determining eligibility for an advance payment of arrears;
	(2)  for what reasons the Child Support Agency Parliamentary Business Unit in Birkenhead are unable to communicate via telephone with the Child Support Agency office in Bolton.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 17 July 2007:
	In reply to your recent parliamentary questions regarding the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the chief executive .
	and
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and pensions, for what reasons the Child Support Agency Parliamentary Business Unit in Birkenhead are unable to communicate via telephone with the Child Support Agency office in Bolton.
	All cases, including those being managed clerically at the Bolton office, are subject to the same legislative and procedural rules. This includes the decision to make an advance payment where maladministration has occurred and a range of pre-defined criteria are satisfied.
	We actively encourage use of the telephone as the primary means of communication between offices to update or discuss particulars on a case. It is only in the case of a complaint being received in the Agency about a clerical case maintained by the Bolton office that, initially, the inquiry is emailed to Bolton. This is to ensure the Bolton office has all the necessary information to progress and resolve the client's concerns. Subsequently, contact should be made by telephone.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Financial Assistance Scheme

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what the average processing time for pension schemes applying to qualify for initial payments was under the Financial Assistance Scheme for each month since the scheme began operating; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the average processing time was for pension schemes applying to qualify for initial payments under the Financial Assistance Scheme in each month since the scheme began operating; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The following table shows the months in which schemes have requested initial payments and the average time taken from the date of request to the date on which the scheme was accepted for initial payments.
	
		
			  Month of request for initial payments  Average number of days between request and acceptance 
			  2005  
			 October 41 
			 December 47 
			   
			  2006  
			 January 19 
			 February 42 
			 March 47 
			 April 48 
			 May 41 
			 June 32 
			 July 20 
			 August 42 
			 September 20 
			 October 4 
			 November 12 
			 December 11 
			   
			  2007  
			 January 20 
			 February 22 
			 April 8 
			 May 16 
			 June 7

Financial Assistance Scheme

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what the average processing time was for pension schemes applying to qualify for assistance under the financial assistance scheme in each month since the scheme began operating; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the average processing time for pension schemes applying to qualify for assistance under the financial assistance scheme has been since the scheme has been operating; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: In order to obtain a decision on qualification for assistance under the financial assistance scheme (FAS) a pension scheme must successfully go through the two stages of notification and qualification. This involves the trustees and administrators providing basic scheme information to the FAS operational unit (FASOU).
	As at 29 June 2007, the average time taken (since operations started in September 2005) from receipt at FASOU of a correctly completed application form for qualification to a qualification decision being issued was 47 working days.
	Equivalent information on a month by month basis is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Industrial Health and Safety: Coroners

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer from the then Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, of 19 June 2007,  Official Report, columns 1713-4W, on industrial health and safety: coroners, what steps he has taken to ensure that health and safety regulations requiring employers to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to health and safety to which employees are exposed while at work have been carried out by those responsible for coroners and coroners' officers.

Anne McGuire: holding answer 12 July 2007
	Coroners are appointed and funded by the relevant local authority. Their officers are employed by the relevant local authority or police authority. Compliance with health and safety requirements for risk assessments relating to their work is a matter for the relevant employer. The Health and Safety Executive continues to work with employers to develop and implement sensible risk controls.

Industrial Health and Safety: Publicity

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by the Health and Safety Executive on campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of working at height in each of the last five years.

Anne McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) 'Height Aware' Campaign 2006 cost about £1.7 million including publicity, promotional events and evaluation of its effectiveness. In 2005 HSE ran some initiatives focusing on ladder safety costing around £17.500. HSE is currently building on these with the current 'Ladder Exchange' initiative, for which final costs are not yet available. A falls from height campaign specifically targeting those working in the construction sector was run in 2003-04, costing £275,000. These campaigns were aimed at reducing deaths and serious injuries arising from falls from ladders which cost the British economy more than £60 million a year.

Pensions: Financial assistance scheme

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pension schemes in England and Wales are eligible for the Financial Assistance Scheme.

Mike O'Brien: The Financial Assistance Scheme Operational Unit (FASOU) does not hold the precise information requested specifically for schemes in England and Wales as in many cases the principal employer of the underfunded pension schemes are no longer in existence. They have therefore been provided with the address of the scheme trustee, administrator or the official receiver which does not reflect the location of the sponsoring employer of the pension scheme.
	682 schemes have qualified for FAS assistance. This is correct up to and including the 22 June 2007.

Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of pension schemes whose qualification status for the Financial Assistance Scheme is undecided are  (a) waiting for scheme trustees to provide additional information before a decision can be made and  (b) having their application considered by the Department; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: As at 6 July 2007 there are a total of 38 pension schemes whose status for the Financial Assistance Scheme is yet to be decided. Of these, 10 schemes (26 per cent.) are being considered based on the initial information provided by the trustees; we are awaiting further information from the trustees of 15 schemes (40 per cent.) and the remaining 13 schemes (34 per cent.) have indicated that a compromise agreement is in place, so we are unable to progress the application until the legislation to implement the extension to cover these schemes is in place.

Social Security Benefits: Repayments

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will undertake an evaluation of the 28 day hospital stay rule for young people with cancer.

Anne McGuire: From 10 April 2006, apart from those in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA), attendance allowance and carer's allowance, patients receiving free in-patient treatment in NHS hospitals no longer have their benefits reduced to a flat rate figure.
	The role of DLA is to help with the extra costs of disability-related needs. These needs are met free of charge by the NHS when someone is in hospital. Payment of DLA for adults therefore stops after four weeks to avoid duplicate provision. However, payment of DLA to children aged under 16 does not stop until after 12 weeks, regardless of their diagnosis. Carer's allowance would also normally continue to be paid to the carer for this 12 week period. The 12-week rule recognises that children may have special needs for support from their parents while they are adjusting to hospital life.
	We have no plans to change the current rules.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many claimants received interest on their 2005 single farm payments for sums paid after 30 June 2006; what the total amount of interest paid was; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan R Shaw: As of 30 June 2007 5,745 claimants had been paid interest in respect of SPS 2005. The total amount of interest paid was £1,203,619.97.

Carbon Emissions

Michael Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the level of  (a) carbon dioxide emissions and  (b) greenhouse gas equivalent emissions was in the UK in each year since 1990; what the percentage change was in each year; and what the comparable figures and percentages were for (i) the EU, (ii) the US, (iii) China, (iv) Russia, (v) countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and (vi) other developing countries.

Phil Woolas: For information relating to UK and EU emissions, I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer provided by my predecessor on 8 March 2007,  Official Report, column 2184W.
	Table 1 contains UK CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, and percentage changes, for each year between 1990 and 2005, the latest year for which data are available. Table 2 contains comparable figures for the EU-15, who have a collective target of -8 per cent. under the Kyoto Protocol.
	DEFRA does not hold the information requested for the US, China, Russia, sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries. Emissions estimates are submitted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is the parent treaty for the Kyoto protocol and Montreal decisions. The United States and Russia are both Annex I parties, and are therefore required to submit annual estimates of emissions to the Convention. China, and all African Countries, are non-Annex I parties to the convention, and are therefore not required to submit annual emissions estimates. All emissions data submitted to the convention are available on the UNFCCC website.
	
		
			  Table 1: CO 2  and GHG emissions from the UK 
			   GHG emissions (with LULUCF)  Percentage change on previous year  Percentage change on 1990  Net CO 2  emissions including land use, land use change and forestry  Percentage change on previous year  Percentage change on 1990 
			 1990 773.0 — — 592.1 — — 
			 1991 779.2 0.8 0.8 598.9 1.1 1.1 
			 1992 754.4 -3.2 -2.4 581.9 -2.8 -1.7 
			 1993 732.6 -2.9 -5.2 567.0 -2.6 -4.2 
			 1994 720.0 -1.7 -6.9 559.2 -1.4 -5.6 
			 1995 709.7 -1.4 -8.2 549.6 -1.7 -7.2 
			 1996 730.7 3.0 -5.5 571.3 3.9 -3.5 
			 1997 706.6 -3.3 -8.6 548.4 -4.0 -7.4 
			 1998 701.6 -0.7 -9.2 550.1 0.3 -7.1 
			 1999 670.4 -4.4 -13.3 540.8 -1.7 -8.7 
			 2000 672.0 0.2 -13.1 548.8 1.5 -7.3 
			 2001 674.9 0.4 -12.7 559.6 2.0 -5.5 
			 2002 654.3 -3.1 -15.4. 543.2 -2.9 -8.3 
			 2003 660.0 0.9 -14.6 555.1 2.2 -6.2 
			 2004 657.0 -0.5 -15.0 554.6 -0.1 -6.3 
			 2005 653.8 -0.5 -15.4 554.2 -0.1 -6.4 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: CO 2  and GHG emissions from the EU-15 
			   GHG emissions (with LULUCF)  Percentage change on previous year  Percentage change on 1990  Net CO 2  emissions including land use, land  use change and forestry  Percentage change on previous year  Percentage change on 1990 
			 1990 4,040 — — 3,135 — — 
			 1991 3,995 -1.1 -1.1 3,101 -1.1 -1.1 
			 1992 3,921 -1.9 -2.9 3,041 -1.9 -3.0 
			 1993 3,847 -1.9 -4.8 2,983 -1.9 -4.8 
			 1994 3,826 -0.5 -5.3 2,963 -0.7 -5.5 
			 1995 3,863 1.0 -4.4 2,993 1.0 -4.5 
			 1996 3,930 1.7 -2.7 3,054 2.0 -2.6 
			 1997 3,871 -1.5 -4.2 3,004 -1.6 -4.2 
			 1998 3,898 0.7 -3.5 3,061 1.9 -2.4 
			 1999 3,825 -1.9 -5.3 3,026 -1.1 -3.5 
			 2000 3,846 0.5 ^-4.8 3,062 1.2 -2.3 
			 2001 3,867 0.5 -4.3 3,105 1.4 -1.0 
			 2002 3,829 -1.0 -5.2 3,084 -0.7 -1.6 
			 2003 3,909 2.1 -3.2 3,175 3.0 1.3 
			 2004 3,926 0.4 -2.8 3,203 0.9 2.2 
			 2005 3,877 -1.2 -4.0 3,164 -1.2 0.9

Departments: Lighting

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department participated in the Lights out London campaign.

Joan Ruddock: DEFRA participated in the Lights out London campaign in order to raise awareness of the issue of climate change by encouraging people to change their behaviour both at work and at home. One of the actions people can take to reduce CO2 emissions is to turn off lights.
	8 departmental buildings in London complied with the initiative.

Departments: Private Finance Initiative

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total cost is of all private finance initiative projects for which his Department has responsibility completed since 1997; and what the projected cost is of such projects commissioned or under way.

Jonathan R Shaw: There are no private finance initiative projects (PFI) completed since 1997 for which the Department or its sponsored bodies have responsibility. There are, however, currently three PFI projects under way for which DEFRA does have responsibility and the details of these are shown in the following table. The Department is not presently involved in any other PFI projects which are at the commissioning stage. The total costs shown in the table include unitary charge payments which are conditional on the performance of the private sector contractors.
	
		
			  Organisation  Project description  Projected cost (£ million) 
			 Natural England Office facilities at Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge 92.89 
			 Environment Agency Broadland flood alleviation project 169.93 
			 Environment Agency Pevensey Bay sea defences 35.39 
			 Total  298.21 
		
	
	The Department also gives support in the form of PFI credits to allow local authorities to enter into PFI contracts to provide waste recycling and management facilities. These projects are, however, managed by and the responsibility of the local authority concerned and not DEFRA itself.

Fisheries: Italy

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will discuss with  (a) the European Commission and  (b) the Italian authorities the illegal use of driftnets by Italian fishermen in the Mediterranean.

Jonathan R Shaw: My ministerial predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw), took the opportunity at the 11-12 June Agriculture and Fisheries Council, to raise our concerns about the continuing illegal use of drift nets in EU waters. The Commission made clear that they took such illegal activity seriously and are currently investigating the activities of both Italian and French vessels in this regard. In addition, the regulation defining drift nets, to provide for more robust enforcement of the existing controls, has now been formally adopted.

Floods

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the  (a) number of deaths,  (b) number of homes flooded,  (c) amount of damage caused by floods and (d) the insured losses arising from floods in each of the last 10 years.

Phil Woolas: For  (a), the data available on deaths due to drowning do not give a sufficiently detailed breakdown to enable direct attribution to flooding to be made. However, we are aware that in recent years two deaths resulted from the flooding in Carlisle in 2005, for example, whilst a number of deaths have been reported during the recent floods.
	For  (b), the following estimates include homes flooded in England as a result of river or sea flooding only.
	
		
			   Homes flooded 
			 1997 281 
			 1998 5,796 
			 1999 1,930 
			 2000 9,916 
			 2001 1,641 
			 2002 786 
			 2003 1,516 
			 2004 1,139 
			 2005 4,116 
			 2006 746 
			  Source:  Environment Agency flood incident management teams, regional flood risk management teams and flood risk mapping and data. 
		
	
	For 2007, the current total of reports of recent flooding from all sources, including surface water as well as river flooding, is now over 37,000 residential properties and businesses affected.
	For  (c) and  (d), full details for each year are not available. However, for the autumn floods of 2000—the most widespread floods in recent years—the total costs were then estimated at around £1 billion. In addition, the following data for major weather events in the last 10 years are from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
	
		
			   Incident  Cost estimate (£ million) 
			 December 1997 to January 1998 Heavy storms and flooding throughout Great Britain 270 
			 April 1998 Heavy rain causing flooding 137 
			 October 1998 Heavy rain causing flooding 100 
			 October-November 2000 Heavy rain causing flooding 760 
			 January 2005 Floods in Carlisle 243 
			 January 2005 Storms in Scotland 124 
		
	
	For 2007, the ABI has estimated that claims total around £1.5 billion for the recent floods.

Sewers

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what capacity of excess rainfall the storm water and sewerage system of each major urban area in England can bear; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: My Department does not hold this information. Water and sewerage companies are responsible for assessing the capacity of public sewers in order to ensure the effectual drainage of their area.
	Typically, the public sewerage system overall is designed to withstand a one in 30 year storm event and waste water treatment works are designed to deal with six times dry weather flows without discharging excess water to a watercourse.
	It has been estimated that up to 50 per cent. of the sewerage network may be in private hands (for example, householders) and information on capacity for this section of the network is not available. Earlier this year, the Government announced that existing private sewers and lateral drains that drain to public sewers would be transferred into the ownership of water and sewerage companies. This will significantly improve the integrated management of the sewerage network as a whole.
	As well as private sewers, there is also an extensive network of surface water drainage associated with highways which is the responsibility of highways authorities. This frequently discharges and interacts with the public sewerage network.
	DEFRA is also funding 15 pilot projects to test alternative approaches to the integrated management of urban drainage across the different organisations with responsibilities in this area.
	The Office of the Water Services (Ofwat) compile figures on the numbers of properties at varying risk of flooding from overloaded public sewers. The price limits for 2005-10 allowed a programme of nearly £1 billion to safeguard homes against the risk of sewer flooding. By then, the proportion of properties at risk would reduce to 0.01 per cent. of households.

Tree Felling

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of levels of deforestation in England; and if he will make a statement.

Joan Ruddock: A national survey of trees and woodland is carried out every 15-20 years by the Forestry Commission. The most recent inventory was published in 2001 and the next survey is planned to start next year. When completed this will enable an assessment of deforestation (i.e. the area of woodland lost between the two surveys) to be carried out. However, the Forestry Commission estimates that the current level of deforestation in England is running at between 500 and 1,000 hectares per year. This is almost entirely due to the removal of planted woodland to restore priority open habitats including lowland heath and upland peat bog.
	New woodland create on has averaged almost 5,000 hectares per year over the last five years, outweighing the area lost to open habitat restoration.

Adoption: Babies

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether her Department provides financial incentives to local authorities to increase take-up of adoptions of babies under the age of six months.

John Healey: The Department for Communities and Local Government and the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister before it has since 2000 provided a system of performance incentivisation for local authorities in England across a range of service areas. This system operated via the Local Public Service Agreements (LPSA), which have since been merged with Local Area Agreements (LAA). These agreements offered a reward grant to local authorities who could deliver outcomes over and above the level of performance Government would otherwise expect.
	61 local authorities chose to include in their LPSA or LAA a measure performance on adoption and/or stability of placements for looked-after children, though the targets would not refer specifically to babies under the age of six months. Reward would be payable to local authorities and their partners for achievement of these particular targets, and in a number of cases this has now been claimed. Details on each target have been made available in the Library of the House, though we do not have data on the age of the children adopted in local authority areas.

Community Development: Business

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department  (a) has taken and  (b) plans to take to support social enterprises.

John Healey: The Department launched a third sector strategy discussion paper on 7 June which includes consideration of the need of third sector organisations for more sustainable forms of investment. Our Women and Equality Unit have commissioned a study to understand the barriers to ethnic minority women entering social enterprise and the support they need. Assistance for social enterprises is also available through the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI). So far 29 local authorities have benefited from the first two rounds. Local authorities that have been successful may include projects to support social enterprises to encourage entrepreneur ship.
	We will set out future proposals for supporting the third sector, including social enterprise, in the light of our assessment of responses to the discussion paper and the outcome of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).

Community Development: Business

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of the total value of contracts which her Department holds is held with social enterprises.

John Healey: The Department does not currently hold information on suppliers in a way that captures the identification of contracts held with social enterprises. The Department is, however, seeking to revise its financial systems to capture information on third sector suppliers, including social enterprises, and is liaising with the Office of the Third Sector to ensure that we adopt a common approach with the rest of Government.

Community Relations: Holocaust

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the contribution of the Holocaust Educational Trust's Lessons from Auschwitz project to  (a) community cohesion,  (b) race relations,  (c) faith groups relations and  (d) the understanding of the Holocaust by young people; and if she will make a statement.

Parmjit Dhanda: I believe that the 'Lessons from Auschwitz' project makes an important contribution to the promotion of good relations between people from different ethnic, cultural and faith backgrounds, and in particular to ensuring young people appreciate the continuing lessons of the Holocaust for our society today. This is reflected in the Government's recent response to the all-party parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism. The Department has contributed £20,000 to the Searchlight Educational Trust's 'Young Citizen' magazine, the first issue of which contains testimonies from students who have participated in the 'Lessons from Auschwitz' project.

Departments: Early Retirement

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what proportion of staff in her Department took early retirement in the last five years, broken down by grade; and at what cost.

Iain Wright: The numbers of staff taking early retirement from the Department for Communities and Local Government, and its main predecessor the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, are set out, analysed by grade, and at what cost, in the following table. This does not include departmental agencies or NDPBs.
	The cost of the earlier years exits, less than 15 per cent. of the 492 exits' total, and analysis by grade of 13 of the earliest staff exits, is not shown as it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Department for Communities and Local Government (including Government offices) 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  Five years 
			 All grades 6 17 40 117 312 492 
			  Comprising:   
			 Senior Civil Service—Director General — — 1 0 1 2 
			 Senior Civil Service—Director — 4 1 1 3 9 
			 Senior Civil Service—Divisional Manager 1 2 6 8 4 21 
			 Senior Civil Service—Band Unknown — — — — — — 
			 Deputy Divisional Manager — 1 1 2 8 12 
			 Principal — 6 8 16 32 62 
			 Fire Inspector — — 3 — — 3 
			 Senior Research Officer — — — — 1 1 
			 Senior Professional Technical Officer — — — — 2 2 
			 Senior Executive Officer — 1 6 16 31 54 
			 Higher Professional Technical Officer — — — — 1 1 
			 Higher Executive Officer — 1 4 26 75 106 
			 Professional Technical Officer — — — — 3 3 
			 Mapping and Charting Officer — — — — 2 2 
			 Executive Officer — 2 6 23 63 94 
			 Personal Secretary — — — — 6 6 
			 Administrative Officer — — 4 19 49 72 
			 Administrative Assistant — — — 6 9 15 
			 Emergency Industrial Grade 4 — — — — 2 2 
			 Emergency Industrial Grade 3 — — — — 8 8 
			 Emergency Industrial Grade 1 — — — — 12 12 
			 Grade unknown 5 — — — — 5 
			
			 Proportion of central Department and Government office staff at start of year (percentage) — — 1 3 9 — 
			
			  Cost (£ million)   
			 Total first year payments (1)— (1)— (1)— 4.6 26.7 — 
			 Forecast total future years' payments (1)— (1)— (1)— 2.4 15.5 — 
			 (1) Obtaining information for earlier years would entail disproportionate cost.

Homelessness

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless people there were in each local authority area in England at the latest date for which figures are available.

Iain Wright: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level, in respect of households rather than people.
	Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty. The duty owed to an accepted household is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
	This data is published in our quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness, which includes a Supplementary Table showing the breakdown of key data, including acceptances and temporary accommodation, by each local authority. This is published on our website and placed in the Library each quarter. The latest release was published on 11 June 2007 and contains data for the period January to March 2007:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2438
	Since 1998, information has also been collected on the number of people who sleep rough—that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night—and these are also published on our website, by local authority:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/705/NationalRoughSleepingEstimate2006_id1502705.xls

Housing: Leeds

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her latest estimate is of the number of new homes planned to be built in the next 10 years in the Leeds Metropolitan District, broken down by  (a) private homes to buy,  (b) private homes to rent  (c) housing association properties and  (d) local authority homes to rent.

Iain Wright: The draft Regional Spatial Strategy for Yorkshire and the Humber (the "Yorkshire and Humber Plan") was submitted to the Government in December 2004. This gives a net housing delivery target for Leeds of 2,260 per annum up to 2016 and 2,950 per annum between 2016 and 2021.
	In May 2007 the Examination in Public Panel report on the plan was published. This report states that Leeds should accommodate more housing growth than currently set out in the draft RSS, but does not specify a number. Ministers are currently considering the panel report and the Secretary of State will publish proposed changes to the draft RSS later in the summer.
	How these target numbers will be divided into various tenures is a matter which will be determined by both the housing market and regional and local planning processes and functions.

Housing: Low Incomes

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions she has had with registered social landlords (RSLs) and housing corporations on using RSLs' spare borrowing capacity for construction of new affordable homes.

Iain Wright: We continue to have discussions with the Housing Corporation and housing associations on Registered Social Landlords' borrowing capacity. In March 2007, the Corporation published 'Unlocking the Door', analysing how past investment locked up in stock could be released to finance more affordable housing. The Corporation has concluded that there is unused capacity and that Housing Associations can borrow more against their existing businesses. There is therefore scope for efficiency savings to be secured for new affordable housing.
	The Housing Corporation is currently considering the responses it has received to its consultation document on recycled capital grants and links to property values.

Mobile Homes: Surveys

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2007,  Official Report, column 1277W, on mobile homes: surveys, how many of the eight respondents supporting Option 3 were  (a) individuals and  (b) organisations; and if she will identify these respondents.

Iain Wright: Of the eight respondents that supported option 3, five were individuals and three were organisations. I am not able to disclose the identity of the individuals as we have given a commitment to individual respondents that their personal details will not be disclosed outside of the Department. However, the three organisations were Basingstoke and Deane borough council, Arun district council and South Norfolk district council.

Travelling People: Eastern Region

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the reason was for the initiation of the proposed single-issue revision of the Eastern regional spatial strategy in relation to the provision of Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Iain Wright: The single issue review of its Regional Spatial Strategy, "Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation in the East of England" currently being carried out by the East of England Regional Assembly reflects the important role that "Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Circular 1/06, Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Sites" gives to Regional Spatial Strategies in addressing the shortage of authorised accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers.
	The main steps in the process are:
	Local authorities assess needs through their Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments;
	The Regional Planning Body (i.e. the Regional Assembly) defines the total level of need in the region and the level of additional pitch provision at district council level through its Regional Spatial Strategy;
	The Regional Spatial Strategy is confirmed by the Secretary of State, following an examination in public conducted by an independent panel if necessary;
	Local planning authorities define the locations for new sites through their Local Development Documents and ensure delivery through their strategic housing role.
	The Regional Assembly gave a commitment to carry out such a review in early 2006 at the Examination in Public into the main review of the East of England Regional Spatial Strategy, where it admitted that its policy did not meet the requirements of the Circular.
	We are grateful to the Regional Assembly for its work on the Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation review, which is the first in the country to fully reflect the requirements of Circular 1/06.

Arts: Finance

Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions he has held with HM Treasury on funding commitments for the arts in the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.

James Purnell: Discussions on the Comprehensive Spending Review are continuing between DCMS and HM Treasury.

Digital Switchover Help Scheme

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what account has been taken of the continuing development of the  (a) technology and  (b) options available in relation to digital switchover in decisions over the form of assistance on offer.

James Purnell: In order to take into account the continuing development of the technology, an Emerging Technologies Group will be established. This Group will consider such developments and, where appropriate, will make recommendations to the BBC and DCMS to amend the Help Scheme's Core Receiver Requirements accordingly.
	The Scheme will be platform-neutral and will therefore allow those eligible to choose from the range of options where they are available. Those opting for cable, satellite or digital TV via a phone line, will have to pay any difference in cost.

Digital Switchover Help Scheme

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on Government support for pensioners and vulnerable groups preparing for digital switchover.

James Purnell: The Digital Switchover Help Scheme will be available to households where at least one person is 75 years or over, severely disabled or is registered as blind or partially sighted during the eligibility period, which starts eight months before switchover in their region. The scheme will provide equipment to convert one TV set to the most cost-effective digital platform in the relevant area. Where necessary, there will also be an in-home service to help with the installation and use of equipment, or the upgrading of an aerial. Those eligible for the scheme will also be able to opt for an integrated digital television or personal video recorder. It will also be possible to opt for a different digital platform (broadband, cable, satellite or terrestrial) from the one proposed by the scheme. The scheme will make a financial contribution towards these alternative options, but the eligible household would need to meet the cost of any shortfall or continuing subscription.
	Where the eligible household opts for the digital terrestrial platform, the scheme will provide a set top converter box which meets the scheme's core receiver requirement. This incorporates a number of features, such as audio description, which are intended to be beneficial to the targeted groups.
	There will be a £40 charge for the help scheme, but where the qualifying person is also in receipt of certain benefits, the assistance will be provided free of charge. Eligibility for the scheme will be based on DWP data, which enables the scheme to target communications thus avoiding complex application forms and the need for complex and costly verification procedures.

Olympic Games: Greater London

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  if he will list his Department's responsibilities with regard to the 2012 Olympics;
	(2)  which Minister is responsible for elite athlete training for the London 2012 Olympics; which Minister will have responsibility for the sports legacy of 2012; and which Minister will have responsibility for the National Lottery statutory instrument due to be laid before the House after the summer adjournment.

James Purnell: The Minister for the Olympics is responsible for the Government's overall Olympic Programme and legacy plans, to which a number of Departments will contribute. As such, she will co-chair (with the Mayor of London) the Olympic Board and exercise statutory and other functions with respect to the London Organising Committee (LOCOG), the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the Olympic Lottery Distributor.
	The Government Olympic Executive, which remains part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will report to the Minister for the Olympics through the Permanent Secretary of the Department.
	As part of his wider responsibilities, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for:
	Elite athlete training for the London 2012 Olympics;
	The sports legacy for 2012;
	Laying before the House the National Lottery statutory instrument transferring funds to the Olympic Lottery Distributor.
	To ensure close co-ordination, the Minister for Sport will continue, as previously, to attend the Olympic Board.
	The Secretary of State and the Minister for the Olympics have joint responsibility for the Cultural Olympiad. This recognises the importance of the cultural programme to London 2012, and of seeing the Olympiad as a key opportunity for the cultural sectors, with a lasting legacy.
	The Secretary of State will continue to exercise statutory and other functions in respect of the various established sporting, cultural and other bodies including UK Sport and Sport England.

Playing Fields: Planning

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  when his Department plans to consult on the proposals in the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 on playing fields of 0.2 hectares and above;
	(2)  when his Department plans to bring forward the changes recommended in the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 announced in his Department's press release Planning to Safeguard Open Spaces and Playing Fields of July 2002.

Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
	We are strongly committed to reducing the threshold for statutory consultation on the sale of playing fields from 0.4 ha to 0.2 ha and this will be reflected in the consultation paper on the review of statutory consultees due later this year.

Public Buildings: Plymouth

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what date, and at what stage of the process, the  (a) Secretary of State and  (b) other Ministers were informed of the advice from English Heritage on the listing of the Civil Centre in Plymouth.

Margaret Hodge: English Heritage provides advice to the Secretary of State on listing applications once they have consulted owners and local planning authorities and completed a full assessment of the building. English Heritage provided their advice on the listing of the Civic Centre in Plymouth to the then Secretary of State (Tessa Jowell) on 12 June 2007.

Public Buildings: Plymouth

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations were received by the Department objecting to the listing of the Civic Centre in Plymouth; and what advice he received from officials within his Department on the listing of the Civic Centre.

Margaret Hodge: Between receipt by English Heritage of the application to list the building in April 2006 and the decision to list being taken in June 2007, the Department received two representations objecting to the possible listing. These representations were made by my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Linda Gilroy) and my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Alison Seabeck). The then Minister for Culture, the Member for Tottenham (David Lammy) was advised that objections to the possible listing had been received, but that the application to list was with English Heritage pending the completion of an Adviser's Report.

Public Buildings: Plymouth

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what account was taken of representations objecting to the listing of the Civic Centre in Plymouth received by his Department.

Margaret Hodge: All relevant evidence is taken into account in determining listing applications. For evidence to be relevant it must relate to the statutory criteria of special architectural or historic interest set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 15 (PPG 15). These are the only factors that the Secretary of State may take into account in making listing decisions. State of repair, cost of maintenance and unsuitability for modern needs are matters which are not relevant to the assessment of a building's qualifications for listing—but they are all things which can be taken into account by the Planning Authority in considering any application to demolish or alter a listed building.

Public Buildings: Plymouth

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what role Ministers in his Department played in the approval of the listing of the Civic Centre in Plymouth; and on what date the listing of the Civic Centre in Plymouth was approved by Ministers.

Margaret Hodge: English Heritage administers the listing system on behalf of the Secretary of State, but it is the Secretary of State who decides whether a building should be added to the statutory list. The decision to list the Civic Centre in Plymouth was made on 21 June 2007.

Public Buildings: Plymouth

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what extra revenue his Department will make available to Plymouth Council in respect of the financial implications of the listing of Plymouth Civic Centre by English Heritage.

Margaret Hodge: Government funding for the historic environment in England is channelled through English Heritage. Grants are available for structural repairs to listed buildings that English Heritage considers to be of outstanding historical or architectural interest. Grants are usually restricted to buildings listed Grade I or Grade II*—rather than Grade II listed—but all applications are dealt with on their individual merits. There are a number of charitable trusts that make grants towards the preservation and upkeep of historic buildings. In addition, the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) has powers to provide financial assistance towards the repair and maintenance of buildings of importance to the national heritage, through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Decisions on applications are made by the NHMF trustees, who seek advice from English Heritage and other professional bodies.

Public Buildings: Plymouth

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with the Chief Executive of English Heritage on its decision to list Plymouth Civic Centre; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: There have been no discussions between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Chief Executive of English Heritage on the decision to list Plymouth Civic Centre.

Radio: Digital Broadcasting

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the impact on  (a) low income households and  (b) those in areas of poor digital radio reception of the switch-off of FM and AM analogue radio for digital radio.

James Purnell: None. The Government have no current plans to switch-off either the FM or AM analogue radio signals, but will keep this under review as required by Section 67 of the Broadcasting Act 1996.

Tourism: Income

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total value of the tourism industry was to the UK economy in each year since 1997.

Margaret Hodge: Estimates of the value of the tourism industry to the UK economy are shown in the table. 2005 is the latest year for which estimates have been made. Due to data quality issues relating to overnight domestic tourism, no figures are available for 2004.
	These figures cover spending by domestic residents on tourism day visits and on overnight trips, spending by inbound visitors to the UK, fares paid to UK carriers by overseas residents and imputed rent from UK residents' ownership of second homes.
	From 1997 to 1999 the figures measuring the contribution to the economy are expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). From 2000, estimates are measured in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) and are based on the results of the 'UK Tourism Satellite Account—First Steps Project', which gives a more accurate statement.
	
		
			  Tourism  e xpenditure 
			  £ billion 
			   UK  tourism expenditure  (at current prices)  UK  tourism expenditure (2005  prices)  Contribution to the economy 
			 1997(1) 65.7 80.1 (2)4.9 
			 1998(1) 70.0 82.5 (2)4.9 
			 1999(1) 73.3 85.1 (2)4.9 
			 2000 74.9 84.4 (3)3.8 
			 2001 72.9 80.8 (3)3.6 
			 2002 73.7 80.4 (3)3.5 
			 2003 74.2 78.6 (3)(, 4)3.3 
			 2005 85.0 85.0 (3)(, 5)n/a 
			 (1) Figures from 1997 to 1999 do not include imputed rent from second home ownership. (2) Percentage of GDP. (3) Percentage of GVA. (4) Revised from previously published figure of 3.4 per cent. due to ONS revision of total UK GVA figure. (5) An estimate for the percentage of GVA for 2005 is not yet available.

Tourism: Marketing

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the return on spending resulting from VisitBritain's marketing activity was in each year since 2003.

Margaret Hodge: Since 2003, VisitBritain's marketing activity has resulted in an annual return on grant in aid investment as follows:
	
		
			  Country marketed  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Britain
			 Ratio 30:1 47:1 54:1 
			 Visitor spend (£ million) 1,080 1,669 1,906 
			 
			 England
			 Ratio 6:1 11:1 20:1 
			 Visitor spend (£ million) 65.9 145.5 243.2 
			 
			 England Intl
			 Ratio — — 32:1 
			 Visitor spend (£ million) — — 32.3 
			  Notes: 1. Visitor spend is money spent by visitors as a result of VisitBritain's campaigns.  2. England was not marketed internationally prior to 2005-06.

Abortion

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 20 June 2007,  Official Report, column 1891W, on abortion, how many repeat abortions have occurred in  (a) Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust,  (b) Surrey and  (c) England in each year since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: The data requested are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Repeat abortions for residents of Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust (PCT)( 1) , Surrey( 2)  and England, 1997  to  2006 
			  Previous abortions 
			   Guildford and Waverley PCT( 1)  Surrey( 2)  England 
			   None  One or more  None  One or more  None  One or more 
			   No.  %  No.  %  No.  %  No.  %  No.  %  No.  % 
			 1997 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,227 71 893 29 115,000 71 47,757 29 
			 1998 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,266 72 885 28 119,562 70 50,480 30 
			 1999 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,193 72 861 28 116,168 70 49,938 30 
			 2000 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,189 69 964 31 116,627 69 51,396 31 
			 2001 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,194 70 924 30 116,470 69 52,354 31 
			 2002 423 69 190 31 1,203 67 596 33 115,766 69 52,729 31 
			 2003 418 70 182 30 1,256 67 618 33 118,697 68 55,270 32 
			 2004 466 73 176 27 1,275 66 654 34 121,052 68 56,639 32 
			 2005 390 65 213 35 1,231 65 654 35 120,584 67 58,068 33 
			 2006 n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,109 66 1,075 34 125,620 68 59,687 32 
			 (1) Data are not available by PCT prior to 2002. Guildford and Waverley PCT was in existence between years 2002 and 2005. It became part of Surrey PCT in 2006. (2) For years 1997-2001, Surrey is made up of East Surrey and West Surrey Health Authorities. For years 2002-05, PCTs included in Surrey are East Surrey, North Surrey and East Elmbridge and Mid Surrey. In 2006, Surrey relates to Surrey PCT (formerly Guildford and Waverley PCT, Surrey Heath and Woking PCT, North Surrey, East Elmbridge and Mid Surrey PCT and East Surrey PCT).

Alcoholic Drinks: Children

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children attended emergency departments as a result of excessive alcohol consumption in each of the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: This information is not recorded centrally. However, the following table details the number of admissions to hospital for children whose initial attendance at an Accident and Emergency (A and E) department was for an alcohol related problem.
	
		
			  National health service hospitals England 2001-02 to 2005-06 
			   Finished admission episodes (alcohol related, selected methods of emergency admissions) 
			 2001-02 3,618 
			 2002-03 3,335 
			 2003-04 3,826 
			 2004-05 3,716 
			 2005-06 3,939 
			  Note: Counts of finished admission episodes where there was a primary diagnosis code for selected *alcohol related diseases and for selected **methods of admission for children aged 15 and under. *Alcohol related diseases defined as following ICD-10 codes recorded in primary diagnosis: F10: Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol; K70: Alcoholic liver disease; T51: Toxic effect of alcohol. **Selected methods of admission: Emergency (via A and E services including the casualty department of the provider); Emergency (other means, including patients who arrive via A and E department of another health care provider).

Departments: Common Purpose

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department paid to Common Purpose in each of the last five years; for what purpose; and what the outcome of the expenditure was.

Dawn Primarolo: The following table provides the payment details covering 2002-02 to 2007-08 and relate to invoices paid covering fees and expenses.
	
		
			   £ 
			 2003-04 11,084.00 
			 2004-05 5,181.75 
			 2005-06 12,866.85 
			 2006-07 6,110.00 
			 2007-08 0.00 
			 Total 35,242.10

Departments: Legislation

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criminal offences have been created by primary legislation sponsored by his Department since October 2006.

Dawn Primarolo: No new criminal offences have been created through primary legislation sponsored by the Department since October 2006. The NHS Act 2006 and NHS (Consequential Provisions) Act were consolidation Acts, which make no substantial changes to the substance of the law.

Drugs: Children

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to ensure that children younger than six years are not prescribed methylphenidate drugs.

Dawn Primarolo: There are no specific measures in place to ensure that children younger than six years are not prescribed methylphenidate drugs.
	Methylphenidate is licensed only for children over six years of age as part of a comprehensive treatment programme for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) where remedial measures alone prove insufficient. Drug treatment for ADHD should only be initiated by an appropriately qualified health professional with expertise in ADHD and should be based on a comprehensive assessment and diagnosis. Continued prescribing and monitoring of drug treatment may be performed by general practitioners, under shared care arrangements.
	A medical practitioner may, however, prescribe methylphenidate to children younger than six years (prescribing a licensed medicine for an unlicensed use, so called 'off-label prescribing'). Medical practitioners are ultimately responsible for all their prescribing decisions. They should always satisfy themselves that all drugs or other substances they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed, that patients are adequately monitored and that, where necessary, expert hospital supervision is available.

Health Services: Finance

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps have been taken to allocate the £1 billion funding proposed in the public health White Paper between  (a) health trainers,  (b) sexual health services,  (c) school nurses and  (d) other services; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what representations he has received on ring-fencing the £1 billion funding proposed in the public health White Paper for health trainers, sexual health services, school nurses and other services; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: Primary care trusts (PCTs) were notified of their revenue allocations for 2006-07 and 2007-08 in February 2005. The allocations separately identify funding to support the initiatives set out in the White Paper "Choosing Health: making healthy choices easier" a copy of which is available in the Library. PCTs determine how to use the funding allocated to them.

Maternity Services: East Sussex

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been allocated for maternity services at the Conquest and Eastbourne District General Hospitals for the period 2008-09.

Ann Keen: Revenue allocations are made to primary care trusts (PCTs) and not directly to hospitals or national health service trusts. PCTs commission health care from providers according to their locally agreed priorities.

Meat Products: Additives

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has commissioned into the impact on health of E number additives found in burgers and sausages.

Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for food additive issues. No research has been commissioned by the FSA into the impact on health of E number additives found in burgers and sausages.
	All additives are subject to strict European Union legislative controls and are assessed for safety by independent experts before permission is granted for their use in food. Existing additives are re-evaluated in light of new scientific information and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is currently re-evaluating all colours used in food.
	EFSA's re-evaluation of the additive Red 2G (E128) a colour permitted in specific types of sausages and burgers has shown that in laboratory tests it may have the potential to damage the genetic material in cells and cause cancer in animals. Based on that opinion, the FSA has recommended that food producers stop using Red 2G.

Plagiocephaly

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned on plagiocephaly; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: Neither the Department nor the Medical Research Council is currently funding research on plagiocephaly.
	The Department funds national health service research and development through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The Institute's research programmes support high quality research of relevance and in areas of high priority to patients and the NHS. Details, including the scope of the programmes and the arrangements for making applications for support from them, are available on the NIHR website at:
	www.nihr.ac.uk
	Funding awards are in all cases made after open, competitive, peer review.

Psychiatry: Drugs

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2007,  Official Report, column 623W, on psychiatry: drugs, how his Department measured the efficacy of the use of Prozac on children; what baseline was used; and what scientific methodology was employed.

Dawn Primarolo: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency evaluated data in two double-blind placebo-controlled trials submitted by the applicant which included children and adolescents aged eight to 18 years. (A double blind trial is one where the person administering and receiving the medication does not know what the medication is placebo or active treatment in this case). The duration of these trials was eight weeks and one year. In addition, there was a trial published in the literature which included adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. It was a double-blind placebo-controlled trial and included comparator groups with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) alone or a combination of fluoxetine and CBT.
	Various rating scales were used to measure efficacy and these included the children's depression rating scale—revised, the clinical global impressions of severity, clinical global impressions of improvement, Montgomery Asberg depression rating scale and others.
	The measurement of efficacy was a clinically significant change in the severity of depression as measured on a rating scale developed specifically to diagnose depression and determine its severity. The baseline used was the child's depression score prior to treatment which had to indicate depression of at least 'moderate' severity.
	Differences between treatment and placebo were evaluated using statistical methodology and clinical assessment.

Smoking: West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in the West Kent Primary Care Trust have used NHS stop smoking services to set a quit date since 2001; and how many had stopped smoking at four week follow up.

Dawn Primarolo: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Data are available on the number of people who have set a quit date through the national health service stop smoking services and, of those, how many people had successfully quit smoking at the four week follow up (based on self-report) for West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT), from 2002-03 to 2005-06. These figures are presented in the following table.
	Data for 2001-02 are unavailable by PCT.
	Data for 2006-07 are due to be published during the week commencing 13 August 2007.
	
		
			  People setting a quit date and successful quitters, in West Kent Primary Care Trust( 1) , 2002-03 to 2005-06 
			  Number 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Setting a quit date 631 2,817 4,883 5,789 
			 Successful quitters at the four week follow up (self-report) 381 2,353 3,948 3,607 
			  Note: Figures presented here are based on the new PCT structure introduced in 2006, which have been produced by aggregating data for Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley, Maidstone Weald and South West Kent PCTs.  Source: The Information Centre for health and social care, Lifestyle Statistics.

Social Exclusion: Homelessness

Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the potential effect of social exclusion on future levels of homelessness.

Gillian Merron: There are many factors linked to social exclusion that may contribute to homelessness, for example unemployment, relationship breakdown or substance abuse. One of the first Social Exclusion Unit reports set out the Government's strategy for tackling rough sleeping. This was followed in 2005 by "Sustainable Communities: Settled Homes; Changing Lives", which is our strategy for reducing and tackling broader homelessness.

Third Sector Funding

Andy Reed: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on Government policy on funding for the third sector.

Phil Hope: There have been a number of discussions with ministerial colleagues on third sector issues generally, including on funding. Recent surveys indicate that Government funding for voluntary sector organisations has doubled between 1996-97 (£5 billion) and 2004-05 (£10 billion). The announcement of the £30 million community assets fund and the £80 million scheme for small community organisations continues to demonstrate the Government's commitment to supporting the third sector.

Early Years Intervention

Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the costs and benefits of intervening in the early years of a child's life to prevent social exclusion.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the costs and benefits of intervening in the early years of a child's life to prevent social exclusion.

Gillian Merron: Early intervention is a core principle in the Social Exclusion Action Plan. For example this document highlighted the relative costs and benefits of a rigorously tested programme in the US, the Nurse Family Partnership, that provides intensive home visiting by health visitors to disadvantaged mothers from pregnancy until the child is two years old.

Young People's Services

Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to assist the voluntary sector in developing its role in providing services for young people.

Phil Hope: Voluntary sector organisations already play a significant role in delivering services for young people. The Department for Children, Schools and Families leads on policy for young people. Since 2006-07 DCSF has invested over £20 million in funding to voluntary sector organisations through its Children, Young People and Families grant scheme.
	Voluntary sector organisation offer significant expertise in developing strategies expertise in developing strategies for children, families and young people. The DCSF has released guidance making it clear that local authorities should engage voluntary and community sector organisations as strategic partners.

Civil Servants: Pensions

Chris Grayling: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the total civil service pension liabilities are.

Gillian Merron: Information on the most recent estimate of liability for the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is available in the Resource Accounts 2005-06 of Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation which is available at:
	http://www.civilservice-pensions.gov.uk/publications.
	A copy is also available in the Library for the reference of Members.
	Resource accounts showing the liabilities at 31 March 2007 will be laid before Parliament by the summer recess.

Departments: Public Transport

David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate the Prime Minister's Office has made of the number of its staff using public transport to commute.

Gillian Merron: The Cabinet Office has made no such estimate, however, the vast majority of Cabinet Office staff (which includes the Prime Minister's Office) work in central London. It is a realistic assumption that staff travel to and from by public transport as we have a number of measures in place to encourage more sustainable business travel.

Electronic Government

John Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps the Government are taking to improve accessibility to government websites; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Government are committed to ensuring that all Government websites are accessible and easy to use for people and this includes design and content delivered in a way that is appropriate for the user. The Government have already streamlined the number of websites (down by 551) since April 2006 and will strengthen the direct.gov.uk and businesslink.gov.uk websites by making all citizen and business facing material available through them.

Gift Aid

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what recent discussions he has had with HM Treasury Ministers on promoting the take-up of Gift Aid.

Phil Hope: I refer the hon. Member to the answer to the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) given by the then Parliamentary Secretary (Edward Miliband) on 11 June 2007,  Official Report, columns 75-76W.
	A consultation was launched on 19 June 2007 with the charitable sector on measures to increase take-up of Gift Aid. The Budget also announced the Government's wish to work with the sector on improving the use of payroll giving and ensuring greater awareness of how to give in a tax-effective way.

Government Communications Network

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the future  (a) role,  (b) budget and  (c) staffing levels of the Government Communications Network.

Gillian Merron: As a virtual organisation, the Government Communications Network does not directly employ staff but is administered by the Government Communication team within Cabinet Office. In the future the GCN's role will be to continue to raise professional standards, share best practice and improve the way communications are co-ordinated across departments. The 2007-08 budget of the team supporting the network is £1.5 million.

Office of the Third Sector

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much it cost to set up the Office of the Third Sector; and what its running costs are estimated to be in 2007-08.

Phil Hope: The costs associated with moving the OTS to its new offices, recruiting new staff and the other associated administrative costs were met from within the existing budgets of the two exporting departments and the Cabinet Office.
	Details of the administration costs for the Office of the Third Sector in 2007-08 are published in the Central Government Supply Estimates (2007-08) Command Paper [HC 438] on page 655, a copy is available in the Library for the reference of Members.

First Great Western

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the performance of First Great Western in conducting the Great Western franchise.

Tom Harris: Joint action plans are in place between Network Rail and First Great Western to address performance issues. Additionally, FIRST Great Western is implementing a 40-point Recovery Plan. These are monitored monthly.
	In the year to 31 March 2007 First Great Western achieved an average punctuality of 83.2 per cent. across the franchise as a whole.

First Great Western

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 12 July 2007 to question 149369, on First Great Western, if she will publish her Department's monitoring results on punctuality, reliability and service quality for First Great Western for the last three months for which statistics are available.

Tom Harris: First Great Western service punctuality and reliability were as follows for the last three rail industry periods.
	
		
			   Punctuality (percentage MAA)  Reliability (all cancellations) 
			 Period 1 83.00 711 
			 Period 2 82.84 600 
			 Period 3 82.65 754 
		
	
	First Great Western is exceeding its service quality benchmark as stipulated in the Franchise Agreement.

Rail Passenger Numbers

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment she has made of likely levels of overcrowding on the railways over the next three years; and if she will make a statement.

Tom Harris: We will continue to increase capacity through the franchising process and in other ways.
	The High Level Output Specification, to be published this summer, will set out the additional rail capacity the government proposes to buy to meet the recent and forecast growth in demand for rail travel.

A46

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on the future funding of highway improvements on the A46 between Newark and Widmerpool.

Rosie Winterton: The East Midlands region has prioritised funding for the dualling of the A46 between Newark and Widmerpool from its indicative Regional Funding Allocation for major transport schemes up to 2015-16.

Midland Mainline

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will take steps to ensure the maintenance of standards of the train service on Midland Mainline to and from Kettering during the remainder of the existing franchise period.

Tom Harris: The quality of service obligations contained in the Midland Mainline Franchise Agreement remain in force until the end of the current franchise and are closely monitored. Additionally, the Franchise Agreement contains provisions that come into force during the last 12 months of a franchise which ensure the franchisee continues to provide good service and maintain franchise standards and value for the government and the incoming franchisee.

London Underground PPP

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on the performance of the London Underground public-private partnership; and what recent assessment she has made of the financial implications for the public purse.

Rosie Winterton: The Public Private Partnership (PPP) has delivered new trains, refurbished stations and upgraded lines. But it is clear that performance between the two PPP companies has been variable with Metronet, to date, delivering less than was expected and at higher unit costs. It is now for London Underground, working in partnership with Metronet, to agree how to secure the delivery of contract outcomes for the funding committed.

Commuters: Motorcycles

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects statistics on motorcycle usage to be included in the Department for Transport's Travel to Work factsheets; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The Department's fact sheet on "Travel to Work" does not contain statistics on motorcycle usage as this accounts only for a small proportion (approximately 1 per cent.) of trips to work. Personal Travel fact sheets are published on an ad hoc basis and there are no current plans to update this fact sheet, the latest version of which was published on 12 July 2007.

East Coast Railway Line

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress she has made in ensuring that the new operator of the East Coast line will provide a fast, efficient and safe service.

Tom Harris: The new Intercity East Coast franchise is designed to achieve value for money while at the same time improving operational performance and providing capacity to meet future demand growth. We expect to be able to announce the winner of the franchise competition next month.

Motorcycles

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects her Department's Travel Factsheet on Motorcycling to be next updated; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: There are no current plans to update the Personal Travel Factsheet on Motorcycling. However, the 2007 edition of the Compendium of Motorcycling Statistics is due to be published in October 2007.

Railways: Deaths

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many accidental deaths there were on the First Great Western rail network  (a) west of Swindon and Newbury and  (b) on the London to Didcot line covered by the Area Commander for London North in each of the last three years;
	(2)  how many suicides there were on the First Great Western rail network London to Didcot line covered by the Area Commander for London North in each of the last three years.

Tom Harris: This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police who can be contacted at:
	British Transport Police
	25 Camden Road
	London
	NW1 9LN
	Email: general.enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk.

Railways: Security

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the  (a) installation and  (b) running costs are of the vehicle access barriers at Victoria and Waterloo stations.

Tom Harris: The costs of the barrier trial at Victoria and Waterloo stations between June and September 2006 were as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 Installation 85,042 
			 Running costs 28,224 
			 Total 113,266 
		
	
	The Corus barriers were supplied from an existing stock administered by ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers).

Road Traffic

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on the extension of active traffic management and hard shoulder running following the experiment on the M42.

Tom Harris: An interim evaluation report on the performance of the M42 Active Traffic Management (ATM) pilot project is due to be published shortly. Initial results have been encouraging and the Highways Agency is continuing to review the network to identify other potential locations that might benefit from the introduction of ATM.

Road Traffic Control

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will list the locations in England where traffic on a primary route is reduced to single file traffic controlled by traffic lights when crossing a narrow bridge or other bottleneck.

Rosie Winterton: The design, installation and maintenance of traffic signals are a matter for the relevant traffic or highway authorities. They are not required to notify the Department when installing them, and as such information on the numbers of signals is not held centrally.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent estimate she has made of the cost of local road repairs identified as repaired; and whether the Government are on track to meet their target of completing such repairs by 2010.

Rosie Winterton: The National Road Maintenance Condition Survey for 2005 showed that the 10-Year Plan interim target to halt carriageway deterioration by 2004 had been achieved. We have encouraged local authorities to produce asset management plans for local roads. As more of these become available we expect to gain a better understanding of the investment required to bring local road conditions up to the appropriate operational standards.

Transport: Costs

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the percentage change in real terms of the cost of travelling by  (a) private car,  (b) bus and  (c) train since (i) 1977, (ii) 1987 and (iii) 1997.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The following table shows the percentage change in real terms of the cost of travelling by car, bus and train since 1977, 1987 and 1997 compared to 2006.
	
		
			   (i) 1977-2006  (ii) 1987-2006  (iii) 1997-2006 
			  (a) Private car -10 -7 -10 
			  (b) Bus +55 +29 +13 
			  (c) Train +52 +28 +6 
			  Source:  Retail Price Index—Office for National Statistics. 
		
	
	Comparisons with average household disposable incomes are as follows: Between 1977 and 2006, average household disposable income increased by 125 per cent.; between 1987 and 2006, average household disposable income increased by 70 per cent.; and between 1997 and 2006, average household disposable income increased by 25 per cent.

Transport: Tickets

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what steps the Government are taking to ensure a common scope for multi-modal ticketing projects;
	(2)  whether the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation specification for implementing a national multi-modal ticketing system is  (a) permissive and  (b) definitive specification;
	(3)  what steps the Government plan to take to develop a definitive national integrated transport smartcard organisation standard.

Rosie Winterton: The Department for Transport sponsored development of the integrated transport smartcard organisation (ITSO) specifications for an interoperable smart card ticketing interface These specifications, which were published in March 2004 and are Crown copyright, provide a common standard enabling schemes to operate with each other. Consumers can thus benefit from a more consistent interface to public transport and the ability to use one card across many different transport operators and schemes in the UK.
	Local transport authorities in England are able to decide whether to introduce smart card technology on buses, trams and metro systems. The second edition of the Department for Transport's guidance on local transport plans stipulates that the eGIF standards, in which ITSO is a recommended standard, shall be used for smart card procurements.
	The Department is currently consulting on the specifications for a national concessionary bus travel pass for older and disabled people in England. This includes an option to specify, in regulations, that the passes must be in smartcard format and be ITSO compliant.
	It is a requirement of all new rail franchises that a percentage of tickets sold must meet the ITSO specification.

Ascension Islands: Human Rights

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the United Nations Human Rights Commission on the status of those living on Ascension Island.

Meg Munn: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has had no discussions with the United Nations Human Rights Commission on the status of those working and living on Ascension Island. The human rights of those currently on Ascension Island are protected by various human rights instruments which have been extended to the island, including the European Convention on Human Rights. Details of these instruments are available on the FCO website at:
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1013618138395.

Ascension Islands: Politics and Government

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps have been taken to promote democracy since the Ascension Island Council elections in May 2007.

Meg Munn: The election planned for May was not held as two people only put themselves forward for election to the seven-member Council which would have resulted in a non-quorate Island Council. During the temporary period of suspension of the Island Council (Ascension) Ordinance 2002, a number of areas of work are being developed to ensure the best prospect of continuation of the democratic process. This includes a programme of information and education on the benefits of a democratic structure of government for Ascension to help underline the importance for those working and living on Ascension Island of participating in the decision-making process. Public meetings to discuss issues of importance to the island are being offered and the first of these was hosted on Ascension Island on 28 May by the Governor.

Ascension Islands: Politics and Government

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the terms of reference are of the Ascension Island Advisory Council; and if he will make a statement.

Meg Munn: The purpose of the Advisory Group is to advise the Governor on policies and proposed legislation which impact on the lives of those working and living on Ascension Island. It has no formal executive or legislative power. The formation of the group is an interim measure designed to help ensure continuing good governance of Ascension during the temporary suspension of the Island Council (Ascension) Ordinance 2002.

Ascension Islands: Politics and Government

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with Ascension Island users on the future of the island; and if he will make a statement.

Meg Munn: Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in London last met with the employing organisations as a group on 15 January to discuss operational issues relating to Ascension Island. The Governor, the Administrator and London based officials have frequent contact with employing organisations and other groups and individuals with an interest in Ascension Island. These meetings cover a broad range of subjects, including operational and other issues of importance to those working and living on Ascension Island.

Ascension Islands: Politics and Government

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans are being drawn up to hold elections to the Island Council on Ascension Island in 2008.

Meg Munn: The governor and his advisers are using the period of the suspension of the Island Council (Ascension) Ordinance 2002 to inform and advise those eligible to vote on Ascension Island of the importance of re-establishing a fully democratic system at the earliest opportunity. The temporary suspension is expected to last for a period of up to 12 months following which the governor intends to be able to call an election. The Government's policy remains to work with the Ascension Island Government towards improving the working and living environment for those on Ascension Island within the current policy framework.

British Overseas Territories: Departmental Responsibilities

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Ministry of Justice on the transfer of responsibility for the Overseas Territories from his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Meg Munn: As the Minister responsible for the Overseas Territories, I can confirm that there has been no discussions with the Ministry of Justice on the transfer of lead responsibility for the Overseas Territories from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Other Government Departments continue to support the Overseas Territories in their areas of responsibility.

EU Reform: Treaties

William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what advice he has received on the legal status of the mandate agreed at the June European Council; and whether the Government are bound by that mandate.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 9 July 2007
	The Government received legal advice from Government lawyers on all aspects of the mandate for a Reform Treaty. The mandate is a political commitment by the Governments of member states.

EU Reform: Treaties

William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will  (a) list and  (b) place in the Library all legal documents agreed at the June European Council.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 9 July 2007
	No legal documents were agreed at the June European Council. The European Council Conclusions and mandate for a Reform Treaty are political agreements by the Governments of member states. A copy has already been placed in the Library of the House.

EU Reform: Treaties

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2007 to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field),  Official Report, columns 898-99W, on the European Union: treaties, on what date he expects the white paper to be presented.

Jim Murphy: The Government expect to publish a White Paper setting out its approach to the Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) on the proposed Reform treaty to coincide with the opening of the IGC.

European Council

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which individuals, other than the then Prime Minister, represented the United Kingdom at the Heads of Government Council Meeting of the European Union of 21 and 22 June 2007.

Jim Murphy: My right hon. Friend the then Foreign Secretary (Margaret Beckett) also represented the United Kingdom at the European Council.

European Council

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the Presidency Conclusions of the European Council of 21 and 22 June 2007 (Doc. 11177/07) were agreed by all attending delegations; and when the Presidency Conclusions were received by the Government.

Jim Murphy: The Presidency Conclusions of the European Council were agreed at the Council.
	Conclusions for Heads of Government to consider were presented by the presidency at the Council.

Iraq: Reconstruction

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has spent on reconstruction in Iraq in each financial year since 2002-03.

Kim Howells: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) financial contribution to reconstruction in Iraq is made principally through the tri-departmental Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) and the Peacekeeping Pool, managed jointly with the Department for International Development (DFID) and Ministry of Defence (MOD).
	The spend upon Iraq from these pools since 2003 is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2003-04 4,995,000 
			 2004-05 28,625,000 
			 2005-06 28,442,000 
			 2006-07 40,947,000 
		
	
	We have also contributed to the NATO training mission in Iraq (NTMI) and to the EU Just Lex rule of law mission for Iraq.
	
		
			  NATO 
			   £ 
			 2004-05 173,000 
			 2005-06 250,000 
		
	
	
		
			  EU Just Lex 
			   £ 
			 2005-06 1,603,000 
			 2006-07 2,277,000 
		
	
	The programmes that the FCO, DFID and MOD fund through the GCPP and the Peacekeeping Pool aim to build the capacity of the Iraqi government, including support to the criminal justice system, civil society, human rights and the central Ministries in Baghdad. Spend is higher in 2006-07 than in other years, due to the implementation of a comprehensive programme of work in Basra to address governance, rule of law and security issues. MOD, DFID and FCO agreed to commit an extra £20million over two years for Basra on top of existing funds.
	The NTMI provides leadership training opportunities for the Iraqi security forces. EU Just Lex conducts out of country training for senior Iraqi police, members of the judiciary and penitentiary staff. It has trained over 1,000 officers since its inception in 2005.

Kosovo: Frontiers

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with Prime Minister Ceku of Kosovo on Kosovan claims to Novi, Pazar and Bujanovac in southern Serbia.

Jim Murphy: The Kosovo Assembly, in its declaration of 5 April, committed to implementing in full the comprehensive settlement for Kosovo's status proposed by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. The General Principles of that settlement state that
	"Kosovo shall have no territorial claims against, and shall seek no union with, any state or part of any state".
	In our contacts with Prime Minister Ceku, this issue has not been raised.

Kosovo: Religious Buildings

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information his Department has on the number of mosques which have been built in Kosovo since 1991.

Jim Murphy: According to figures provided to officials by the Head Imam of the Kosovo Islamic Union, of the 218 mosques destroyed during the 1990s, 147 have been reconstructed.
	27 new mosques have also been built.

St Helena

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the new Governor of St. Helena will be  (a) named and  (b) in post.

Meg Munn: The announcement of the appointment of a new Governor will be made when all the recruitment procedures have been completed satisfactorily and the appointment has been approved by Her Majesty The Queen and notified formally to the current Governor and St. Helena Executive Council. I hope that this will be achieved in order to allow the new Governor to take up their post before the end of 2007.

Uganda: Politics and Government

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the well-being of Forum for Democratic Change members  (a) James Musinguzi Garuga,  (b) Dr. Suleiman Kigundu and  (c) Joseph Musasazi Kifefe; and if he will make a statement.

Meg Munn: We have not received any specific reports on the well-being of these individuals.
	However, we continue to raise our concerns about the detention of the alleged members of the People's Redemption Army (PRA) with the government of Uganda. Most recently our high commissioner in Kampala raised this with President Museveni on 10 May.
	We are aware of reports that Mr. Kifefe has been granted bail due to serious illness, though cannot confirm this.
	We will continue to make further representations to the government of Uganda calling for the court proceedings relating to the PRA suspects to be expedited in a fair and just manner.

Delivery Unit

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the forward programme of work is of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit.

Andy Burnham: As set out in the written ministerial statement on machinery of government changes of 28 June 2007, the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit will continue to work on the critical priorities and actions needed to strengthen delivery across Government, and on the reform of key public services, reporting to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Revenue and Customs: Location

Paul Murphy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what account is taken of economic development issues when considering proposals to move HM Revenue and Customs jobs away from Objective 1 areas.

Jane Kennedy: Economic development issues are among a number of factors that will be taken into account in the impact assessments conducted before final decisions are made to close any HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office and relocate jobs elsewhere.

Sustainable Development

Peter Bone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will adopt the development of infrastructure in the Government's sustainable development areas as a particular cross-departmental priority issue for driving forward from the centre; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle: The Government are committed to ensuring that housing growth is accompanied by the social, transport and environmental infrastructure needed to support development, and as such has been conducting a policy review into supporting housing growth. Further announcements will be made in the forthcoming Housing Green Paper and the comprehensive spending review.

Animal Experiments

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the minimum cage size is for a seven year old single Rhesus Macaque for use in scientific procedures for laboratory experimentation purposes; and for how many hours per day that minimum space is permissible;
	(2)  when she expects to announce a revision to the codes of practice to ensure that British laboratories are compliant with the new standards outlined in Article 5 (Guidelines for Accommodation and Care of Animals) of the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experiment and other Scientific Purposes (ETS No. 123); and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  whether there are rules governing  (a) space requirements and  (b) use of restraints for animals during animal experimentation.

Meg Hillier: holding answer 16 July 2007
	The weight of a seven-year-old Rhesus Macaque would typically be between 6 and 9kg. For an animal of that weight the Home Office code of practice for the housing and care of animals used in scientific procedures specifies an enclosure with a minimum floor area of 14,000 sq cm and with a height of at least 1.5 metres, if singly housed, and per animal if housed, as is usual, in groups. These minima are often exceeded in practice, particularly if animals have to be singly housed, or if they weigh more than 9kg, for which animals the code of practice gives no specific provision. The code of practice does not specify the time for which access to additional space must be provided. However the majority of primates are kept in grouped housing or, if they have to be singly housed, are allowed access to larger exercise enclosures during the working day.
	We aim to publish a revised code of practice to take account of the guidelines set out in the revised Appendix A to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experiment and other Scientific Purposes (ETS 123) in 2008, after the requirements for consultation and parliamentary scrutiny have been met.
	The United Kingdom Government played an active part in producing the revised Council of Europe guidelines and began the process of ensuring their adoption in the United Kingdom well before they were finally agreed in June 2006. Implementation of the guidelines is not dependent on the publication of a revised UK code of practice and is being achieved more quickly and more effectively through the day to day contact between our inspectors and the scientific community.
	All animals used in procedures licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 must be housed in accordance within the cage and pen dimensions in the Home Office code of practice for the housing of animals in designated breeding and supplying establishments. Any form of restraint applied for an experimental or other scientific purpose that may cause pain suffering distress or lasting harm may be applied only as part of a programme of work specified in a project licence issued under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. There must be adequate scientific justification for the use of restraint, it must be the least degree of restraint necessary to achieve the scientific objectives and it must be applied for the shortest period of time to achieve those objectives.

Animal Experiments: Laboratories

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many laboratories there were in England and Wales which undertook experimentation on animals in each of the last four years;
	(2)  how many inspectors were employed in England and Wales to monitor experimentation on animals in laboratories in each of the last four years.

Meg Hillier: The operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 is a reserved matter and the Home Office implements the legislation throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
	The total number of places in England and Wales designated as user, breeding and/or supplying establishments under the 1986 Act at 31 December in each of the last four years was:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2006 178 
			 2005 183 
			 2004 193 
			 2003 197 
		
	
	Under the 1986 Act, the Animals Scientific Procedures Inspectorate is a national body with responsibilities throughout England, Scotland and Wales, and no inspectors are appointed solely with respect to the operation of the legislation in England and Wales. However, we estimate that the number of inspectors whose working time was devoted to establishments in England and Wales in each of the last four years was:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2001 22.75 
			 2005 22.75 
			 2004 24.75 
			 2003 22.25 
		
	
	Detailed information about the work of the inspectorate is provided in the Animals Scientific Procedures Inspectorate annual reports for 2004 and 2005, copies of which are in the House Library. These annual reports explain what the inspectors do and how they do it, and provide details of the Inspectorate's staffing and structure, ways of working, professional background and skills, and training and development.

Asylum

David Heyes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 14 June 2007,  Official Report, column 1221W, on asylum, and the correspondence received by the hon. Member for Ashton under Lyne from the Border and Immigration Agency, how many cases there are of applicants in the category referred to in that correspondence as receiving support and may be given some form of leave to remain; and how many such applications were submitted in each of the last five years.

Liam Byrne: Lin Homer, the Chief Executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, wrote to the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 19 February 2007 about the legacy programme. She explained that once reports can be produced on the programme in which Parliament and the wider public can have suitable confidence, Parliament will be updated accordingly. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library of the House.

Border and Immigration Agency

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2007,  Official Report, column 1182W, to the hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) on the Border and Immigration Agency, what steps the Government have taken in respect of the Ramzy case; and when she expects it to be resolved.

Liam Byrne: The Government, together with the governments of Lithuania, Portugal and Slovakia, submitted written observations to the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Ramzy  v. the Netherlands in November 2005. The observations were the same as those submitted in two other cases which raise similar issues, A  v. the Netherlands and Nassim Saadi  v. Italy.
	The Grand Chamber held an oral hearing in the case of Nassim Saadi  v. Italy on 11 July 2007, and the UK made an oral submission to the Court. The Court has given no indication about when it will give judgment in this case or how it proposes to deal with the other two cases.

Children: Protection

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what safeguards are in place to prevent known paedophiles from opening a children's agency specialising in theatre, television and modelling; and if she will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous answer on 11 July 2007,  Official Report, column 1546W.
	The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which will be implemented from Autumn 2008, provides the legislative framework to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children. The Act applies where an individual is undertaking regulated activity, which includes teaching, training, supervising, caring for or offering advice, guidance or instruction to children where it is done frequently or intensively (overnight or on more than two days in a 30 day period). Operating a children's agency would also be included. An individual who is barred under the new scheme will commit an offence if they seek to engage in this activity and an employer will commit an offence if they seek to use such a person.
	In addition, those running agencies are required to meet the provisions of the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and associated regulations, which are designed to protect those using the work-finding services they provide.
	The regulations provide that agencies which supply individuals to work with or alongside vulnerable persons, including children, must carry out strict checks regarding those individuals which include taking up of independent references. Where agencies supply workers to work with children, these checks would include a Criminal Records Bureau check.

Departments: Early Retirement

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of her staff took early retirement in the last five years; at what cost; what grades of staff took early retirement; and what percentage of each grade took early retirement.

Liam Byrne: There are a number of areas in the Home Office that have run early retirement schemes. Details of staff numbers in each scheme, the grades of staff who took early retirement and the percentage of each grade that took early retirement are not centrally available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Overall cost figures are available and published in the Home Office Consolidated Resource Accounts. The following table shows the provisions made each year for the full costs of new cases of early departures, since 2002-03.
	Final figures for 2006-07 will be published in the Home Office Resource Accounts, expected in September 2007.
	
		
			   Total (£000)( 1) 
			 2002-03 16,135 
			 2003-04 9,774 
			 2004-05 52,707 
			 2005-06 22,369 
			 (1) Includes totals for the core department, agencies and the 42 local probation boards but not the NDPBs.

Imports: Primates

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she  (a) has renewed and  (b) intends to renew the approval of Nafovanny in Vietnam to import non-human primates to the UK.

Meg Hillier: The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate visited the Nafovanny Centre during April 2007. The present position is that their current period of acceptance has been extended from 31 May 2007 to 31 August 2007 pending consideration of the breeding centre's application to retain acceptance for a further two-year period.

Yarl's Wood Detention Centre

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many detainees at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre received compensation as a result of civil claims in each of the last three years; and if she will give details of each claim.

Liam Byrne: The information requested could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records only at disproportionate cost.

Coroners: Armed Forces

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent progress has been made in concluding inquests for personnel killed on operational duty overseas since 2003.

Bridget Prentice: I would refer my hon. Friend to the written ministerial statement made on 20 June which gives details of the progress with these inquests. Since 20 June a further eight military inquests and one inquest of a civilian whose body was repatriated via RAF Brize Norton have been held.

Data Protection

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the implications of data mashup for data protection.

Michael Wills: Data mashing is a term used for taking and combining data from different sources to create new and often innovative services. This is most commonly done with published structured data made available on the world wide web via application programming interfaces (APIs), using data and services from providers such as Google, Yahoo and Amazon. Data mashing is the process, the mashup is the product.
	In the United Kingdom, all forms of processing personal data are regulated by the Data Protection Act 1998. Although the Act does not refer specifically to data mashing or mashup, its provisions will apply where a website operator in the UK takes legitimate public sources of information about individuals and then publishes a combined version of that information on the internet. In particular the first principle requiring the processing to be fair and lawful will apply.

Departments: Public Transport

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what incentives he has considered to encourage staff in his Department to use public transport.

Maria Eagle: For business journeys, the Ministry of Justice encourages staff to use public transport where practicable. Staff policy for travel and subsistence requires that staff restrict the use of pool cars or private motor vehicles to journeys that cannot be readily made by public transport.
	Further assistance and encouragement is provided by the offer of interest free loans for the purchase of season tickets for travel to work by public transport and for bicycles (including safety equipment) which are available to all employees that have at least two months service. These advances are repayable in equal monthly instalments within the life of the ticket or over a maximum of 12 months for the purchase of the bicycle. The Ministry also offers;
	reimbursement of a Young Persons Railcard for employees under the age of 24.
	reimbursement of standard public transport fares for new entrants under the age of 21 taking up an initial appointment who have to live away from home because of their workplace.
	three free journeys by public transport to the parental home each year for single employees under 21, who are appointed or transferred from a post where they lived with their parents to a post beyond reasonable travelling distance and who live in lodgings.
	In addition, all prisons in England and Wales have travel plans. Each plan covers issues such as staff travel to and from work, car parking on site, car sharing, the use of fleet vehicles and official travelling by staff. While the format of the plans was standardised, the actual plans reflected the different circumstances at each site. Local authorities are now placing increasing emphasis on reducing travel impacts and ask to see copies of prisons' travel plans when considering planning applications for new houseblocks or other major work at existing prisons.
	The main London headquarters buildings of the National Offender Management Service and the Prison Service also have a travel plan. This covers staff travel to work, visitors to Headquarters buildings and delivery and contractors' vehicles and aims to ensure that staff use, wherever, possible, environmentally friendly methods of travelling to work in order to minimise the impact of their travelling arrangements on the environment.

Domestic Violence: Victim Support Schemes

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what training and guidance will be provided for the courts and other organisations on section 1 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.

Bridget Prentice: Section 1 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 was implemented on 1 July 2007. This inserts a new section 42A into the Family Law Act 1996 which makes the breach of a family non-molestation order a criminal offence punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. Comprehensive training and guidance has been given to court staff and the judiciary. My Department worked with the police, CPS and other agencies preparing training and guidance tailored to their procedures and requirements. Ministry of Justice officials also have spoken at domestic violence events and conferences. My Department has also updated our guidance for court users "Domestic Violence—A Guide to Civil Remedies and Criminal Sanctions" which outlines the range of options available to victims of domestic violence. This is now available in English, Welsh and eight other languages.

Employment Tribunals Service: Compensation

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what advice has been given to the chairmen of employment tribunals on  (a) the awarding of costs and  (b) the calculation of costs to be awarded to the successful party; and if he will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: The Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedures) Regulations 2004 provide a power for employment tribunal chairmen to order the payment in respect of the costs incurred by another party in bringing or defending an employment tribunal claim. They currently limit any award to a maximum of 10,000.
	No guidance has been given by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice to employment tribunal chairmen on when to award costs or on how any cost awards should be calculated.
	Employment Tribunal Chairman are independent members of the judiciary and it would not be appropriate for Ministers to give guidance on when they should use these powers or on the level of award made.

Family Courts: Fees and Charges

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the introduction of fixed fees for family work on the number of family cases represented in financial year 2007-08.

Maria Eagle: The final family fee schemes, published on 22 June by the Legal Services Commission (LSC), and due to be implemented on 1 October, were accompanied by a full regulatory impact assessment. No cuts are being made to family legal aid as a result of the introduction of new fee schemes, and the LSC is not expecting a drop in the number of clients helped in 2007-08, or in future years, as a result of the new fee schemes.
	Nearly 800,000 people were helped with civil and family legal help (excluding asylum and immigration) in 2006-07, compared with 595,000 in 2004-05, and the LSC aims to increase this by a further 50,000 in 2007-08.

Judiciary: Public Appointments

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with the Bar Council on increasing the number of judicial appointments from people with state educational backgrounds.

Jack Straw: None yet but Ministers and I hope to meet them in due course. The Judicial Appointments Commission, a non-departmental public body, has, since its launch in April 2006, responsibility for the selection of judges for appointment to courts and tribunals. One of its statutory duties is to encourage diversity in the range of persons available for selection for appointment. In line with this obligation the Commission has had discussions with the Bar Council about how best to attract greater numbers of eligible candidates from under represented groups generally.
	Promoting judicial service, widening the range of people eligible for judicial office and encouraging a broader range of applicants all form part of the judicial diversity strategy, for which the Ministry of Justice, Judicial Appointments Commission and judiciary are jointly responsible.

Prisoners Release

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have been released early from prisons in each month since January 2007; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: Figures showing the numbers of releases under the home detention curfew scheme and on parole in the period January to June 2007 can be found in the following table:
	
		
			  Releases between January and June 2007 on home detention curfew and parole 
			   Home detention curfew  Parole 
			 January 947 209 
			 February 917 199 
			 March 981 209 
			 April 900 203 
			 May 997 203 
			 June 980 (1)— 
			 (1) Data not yet available 
		
	
	Additionally there were 1,701 releases between 29 June 2007 and 5 July, under the end of custody licence scheme.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisoners Release

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners released early from HM prisons have been recalled; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: As at 5 July, the Ministry of Justice had been notified of 30 out of 1,701 offenders (1.76 per cent.) released under the end of custody licence as having been subsequently recalled to custody from that licence.
	Information on end of custody licence, including recalls will be placed in the Library on a monthly basis.

Prisoners' Release

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the impact of the prisoner early release programme upon  (a) the ability of the Prison Service to meet individual prisoner's resettlement needs,  (b) prisoner rehabilitation,  (c) recidivism and  (d) the ability of the Probation Service to meet the needs of individuals.

David Hanson: Prisoners released on the End of Custody Licence (ECL) are subject to normal sentence planning and resettlement activities, including offending behaviour programmes and interventions, undertaken by offenders across the prison estate from the start of sentence. On release they are eligible to receive subsistence payments and housing costs to meet essential needs in lieu of benefits during the licence period.
	Release on End of Custody Licence allows prisoners to start the process of looking for gainful employment, to undertake training and provides an opportunity to re-establish links with family and the local community.
	ECL will be monitored closely. Information on End of Custody Licence, including prisoners notified to NOMS as having re-offended during the period on ECL will be placed in the Library on a monthly basis. Additional funding has been made available to probation services for ECL and the level of resources needed will be kept under review.

Prisoners: Sentencing

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners are on indeterminate sentences for public protection with tariffs of  (a) less than three years,  (b) between three and five years,  (c) between five and 10 years and  (d) more than 10 years.

David Hanson: Figures relating to the lengths of tariffs on prisoners serving indeterminate sentences in all prison establishments in England and Wales as at the end of March 2006 can be found in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of IPPs by length of tariff 
			  Months  Total 
			 1-18 147 
			 19-36 326 
			 37-48 107 
			 49-60 46 
			 61-120 53 
			 121+ 4 
			 Not recorded 24 
			 Total 706 
		
	
	This table is taken from table 11.2 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisoners: Sentencing

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many prisoners on indeterminate sentences for public protection have been released after serving more than their minimum tariff; and in how many of those cases the assessment of their danger to the public was carried out  (a) before and  (b) after completion of their minimum tariff;
	(2)  how many prisoners on indeterminate sentences for public protection have been released since 2004; and how many had served  (a) less than one year,  (b) between one and two years,  (c) between two and three years and  (d) more than three years;
	(3)  how many prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection released on licence have  (a) been returned to prison and  (b) been convicted for offences while on licence.

David Hanson: No prisoner serving an indeterminate sentence may be considered for release until they have completed their tariff, that is, the period of imprisonment considered necessary to meet the requirements of retribution and deterrence. The Parole Board may direct a tariff-expired indeterminate sentence prisoner's release only if it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that the prisoner should be confined.
	As at 16 July 2007, seven prisoners serving indeterminate sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) have been released on the direction of the Parole Board. Six of these offenders were released after the tariff period had expired. In each of these cases, the Parole Board hearing to assess the offender's risk of harm took place after the relevant tariff expiry date. In the seventh case, the prisoner was released before tariff-expiry on compassionate grounds due to ill health and has since died.
	Two of the six offenders had their sentences quashed following their release. Of the remaining four, none has been recalled to custody or been convicted of any further offences.
	The following table shows the time served in custody before release in the six cases referred to above:
	
		
			  Time served  Number of cases 
			 Less than 1 year 2 
			 1-2 years 4 
			 2-3 years 0 
			 More than 3 years 0

Prisons

David Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his most recent projections are of the  (a) uncrowded and  (b) maximum capacity of prisons in each of the next five years.

David Hanson: NOMS undertakes a rolling programme of refurbishment on the prison estate. As schemes come back into use following refurbishment, other schemes are taken forward and the accommodation is taken out of use.
	8,000 new prison places were announced by the Home Secretary in July 2006 and a further 1,500 places by the Lord Chancellor on 19 June. The programme is still in the planning stages and the number of places to be provided beyond 2007 has not been finalised.

Prisons

David Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what provision has been made in his Department's budgets for capital works on the Prison Estate in 2007-08, broken down by  (a) refurbishment,  (b) newbuild on existing prison sites and  (c) newbuild sites.

David Hanson: The total capital budget for prison capacity in 2007-08 is £475 million. This is broken down as follows:
	 (a) Refurbishment: £190 million;
	 (b) New build on existing prison sites: £257 million;
	 (c) New prisons: £28 million.

Prisons: Drugs

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the 12 step drug rehabilitation programme will continue in the prisons other than Swansea which operate the scheme.

David Hanson: The 12 Step Programme is an integral part of the range of intensive accredited drug treatment programmes available in prisons. The 12 Step Programme at HMP The Verne has now ceased and the funding has been moved to HMP Dartmoor, where the Programme will start shortly. There are currently no further plans to withdraw the programme from any other establishment where it is being delivered.

Prisons: Drugs

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners who completed or commenced the 12 step drug rehabilitation programme in Swansea prison have been charged with further drug-related offences after their release from prison.

David Hanson: The information requested is not available. There is no effective tracking mechanism in place. The tracking of an individual who has engaged with treatment interventions and subsequently went on to re-offend would involve the use of the Police National Computer and this would constitute a breach of confidentiality.

Prisons: Drugs

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost per prisoner is of the 12 step drug rehabilitation programme in Swansea prison.

David Hanson: The cost of running the 12 Step Programme at HMP Swansea is subject to conditions of commercial confidentiality.

Prisons: Drugs

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners who commenced the 12 step drug rehabilitation programme in Swansea were released early before the end of their sentence.

David Hanson: In 2006-07—the latest period for which figures are available—no prisoners released early from HMP Swansea had commenced the 12 step programme.

Prisons: Drugs

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have started the 12 step drug rehabilitation programme in Swansea prison since its introduction; and how many have completed the programme.

David Hanson: The following table shows, the number of prisoners starting and completing the 12 Step programme at HMP Swansea.
	
		
			   Starts  Completions 
			 2004-05(1) 34 7 
			 2005-06 31 11 
			 2006-07 32 17 
			 (1 )Data available from August 2004. Programme commenced in 2001

Prisons: Drugs

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if his Department will publish the assessment of the efficacy of the 12 step drug rehabilitation scheme at Swansea prison.

David Hanson: Published research shows that prisoners who completed a 12 Step Programme had significantly lower rates of reconviction after two years—down 11per cent.—provided effective treatment was continued on release. Efficacy is also determined by the quality of local delivery. Audit conducted locally, shows over the past three years, a marked decline in the quality of delivery of the 12 Step Programme at HMP Swansea.

Tribunals

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in what proportion of employment tribunal cases the chairman awarded costs to the claimant in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: In 2005-06, there were 148 cases in which a claimant was awarded costs by an Employment Tribunal. This represents 0.66 per cent. of all cases disposed of at a hearing.

Wellingborough Prison

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans there are to extend the capacity of HM Prison Wellingborough; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: There are no firm plans at present to increase the capacity of HMP Wellingborough. However, the National Offender Management Service is considering the potential to build around 50 to 60 additional places at the prison. These proposals do not form part of the current capacity building programme and the development of plans to increase capacity at HMP Wellingborough would be discussed in full with local planners.

Bankruptcy

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what information services are available to individuals to help them decide which course of action to pursue when they have been made bankrupt.

Patrick McFadden: Once an individual is made bankrupt in England and Wales they are subject to the bankruptcy provisions in the Insolvency Act 1986. All bankrupts are interviewed by a member of the Insolvency Service.
	All bankrupts are given or sent a copy of the Insolvency Service "Guide to Bankruptcy" which includes alternatives to bankruptcy.
	The Insolvency Service produces a wide range of leaflets which are available in both paper form and on its website at www.insolvency.gov.uk. Those leaflets cover matters directly relating to the bankruptcy process, the consequences of bankruptcy and information on alternatives to bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what responsibilities the Official Receiver has to make clear to individuals the different options open to them in bankruptcy; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: The responsibilities and duties of the Official Receiver are set out in the Insolvency Act 1986, which extends to England and Wales.
	While there is no statutory duty on the Official Receiver to provide details of the different options available to bankrupts, all are given or sent the Insolvency Service "Guide to Bankruptcy" which includes information on alternatives to bankruptcy. In addition, leaflets informing bankrupts of their options are available in paper form and on the Insolvency Service website:
	www.insolvency.gov.uk/
	The "Guide to Bankruptcy" covers the possibility of a Fast Track Voluntary Arrangement (FTVA). A leaflet on FTVAs is also available in paper form or from the Insolvency Service website.

Consumer Goods: Animal Experiments

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what information is available to consumers for them to determine whether products on sale have been subject to animal testing.

Gareth Thomas: holding answer 12 July 2007
	Cosmetic products covered by the Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations 2004 (as amended), which implement the EU directive on cosmetic product safety, give manufacturers the choice of whether or not to make a claim about animal testing on their products. In practice most cosmetic product manufacturers do not make claims and those that do, make claims about no animal testing having been carried out on the product or its ingredients.

Departmental Responsibilities

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what his Department's responsibilities are for technology.

Stephen Timms: Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform will lead work to create the conditions for business success. This includes liaising closely with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), which now leads on technological innovation and research. The Department will address market and regulatory issues to ensure that business can take full advantage of technological developments and enable it to compete successfully in the global economy.

Departments: Disciplinary Proceedings

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many people in his Department have been  (a) disciplined and  (b) dismissed for (i) inappropriate use of the internet while at work and (ii) using work telephones to access premium rate telephone numbers in the last 12 months.

Gareth Thomas: In the former Department of Trade and Industry 12 staff were disciplined and five staff dismissed for inappropriate use of the internet while at work in the last 12 months.
	Furthermore no members of staff in the former Department of Trade and Industry were disciplined for using work telephones to access premium rate telephone numbers in the last 12 months.

Departments: Domestic Visits

Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what role his private office played in organising his visit to NETpark, Sedgefield, County Durham and other destinations in the North East; whether officials from his Department accompanied him on the visit; and what the cost was to his Department of the visit.

Gareth Thomas: The visit to NETpark was organised and funded by the Labour Party. The Secretary of State's private office arranged a fact finding visit to Sheffield to study the impact of flooding on local businesses followed by a visit to Newcastle for a meeting with the chair of One North East. The Secretary of State was accompanied by one of his special advisers to enable him to deal with any departmental business unconnected with the political visit.

Departments: Marketing

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the total cost was of creating signs displaying his Department's name for Ministerial offices.

Gareth Thomas: The Department has incurred no additional costs associated with providing signage for the Ministerial Offices as these signs are produced internally and by reusing existing signage.

Departments: Private Finance Initiative

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the total cost is of all private finance initiative projects for which his Department has responsibility completed since 1997; and what the projected cost is of such projects commissioned or under way.

Gareth Thomas: BERR holds one operational PFI contract, which is with its IT Service provider Fujitsu Services. This contract was signed in 1998 and began in 1999 and is due to end in 2014.
	Expenditure to date under this contract has been £288.7 million.
	Projected expenditure, for the rest of the life of the contract, is expected to be £243.5 million.
	Total project cost of this service is expected to be £532.2 million.

Departments: Publicity

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the cost effectiveness of advertising commissioned by his Department including relevant campaigns commissioned by its predecessor in the last 12 months.

Gareth Thomas: The former DTI commissioned a limited amount of advertising in the financial year to March 2007 via the Central Office of Information. This comprised the following:
	classified recruitment advertising for the Small Business Service;
	online advertising about the national minimum wage (NMW), targeting young people; and
	press and online advertising about the NMW, targeting migrant workers.
	The cost-effectiveness of the advertising was assessed by the number of responses, for example, cost-per-click in the case of the online advertising targeting young people, and potential audience size as calculated by press circulation and online user figures in the case of the advertising targeting migrant workers.
	Details of any other expenditure by the Department is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Sign Language

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the merits of providing British Sign Language (BSL) videos on his departmental website for the benefit of those whose first language is BSL.

Gareth Thomas: Resources are currently allocated to a project which will secure accessibility improvements to my Department's website, with the specific aim of ensuring that it meets government accessibility requirements.
	My Department has made no assessment of the merits of providing British Sign Language (BSL) videos on its website.

Electronic Equipment: Recycling

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what in-store facilities are being made available in Hampshire for customers to return white goods under the waste electrical and electronic equipment directive; what his strategy is for increasing such facilities in the county; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: Detailed figures at a county level are not available, but all retailers of electrical and electronic equipment are obliged to offer in-store take-back if they are not members of the Distributor Takeback Scheme.
	Within Hampshire all 26 local authority civic amenity sites have been approved as designated collection facilities and are playing their part in the UK WEEE system. Estimates made by Hampshire county council suggest that Hampshire is already diverting an average of 11 kilograms of waste electrical items per person from landfill.

Employment Tribunals Service: Finance

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the average estimated cost of an employment tribunal case is to  (a) an employee,  (b) an employer and  (c) the state.

Patrick McFadden: The Survey of Employment Tribunal Applications (SETA) 2003 estimated that the mean paid cost of advice and representation for all applicants was £445, while for those applicants who said they had paid for advice and representation it was £2,493. Mean non-advice related costs of a tribunal case to applicants (travel, communications and loss of earnings) were £4,553.
	For all employers, the mean paid costs of advice and representation were £1,491, while for those employers who said they had paid for advice and representation it was £4,362. In addition, employers said they spent an average of 9.8 days (mean) or four days (median) on tribunal cases.
	The average cost to the Exchequer of an employment tribunal application is around £606 (based on figures for 2005-06).

Employment: Tribunals

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will make it his policy to ensure that costs are generally awarded to claimants who are successful in employment tribunal cases against employers.

Patrick McFadden: Employment tribunals have powers to make cost orders against parties who have acted vexatiously, abusively, disruptively or otherwise unreasonably. Michael Gibbons' review of employment dispute resolution in Great Britain, published on 21 March, made wide ranging recommendations for changes to the dispute resolution system. The Government are considering the responses to their consultation on the Gibbons proposals, which closed on 20 June, and will publish their response in due course.

Energy Supply: Biofuels

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much energy installed biomass generation has contributed to UK electricity supply through the National Grid in each of the last five years.

Malcolm Wicks: Biomass, here defined as farm waste, animal waste derived fuel (such as poultry litter and, meat and bone), straw, energy crops, sawdust, wood pellets, olive pellets, sunflower pellets, cereal products, palm oil kernels and nuts, tall oil and municipal solid waste (biodegradable fraction) is estimated to have contributed as follows to electricity supplied through the public electricity distribution systems of the United Kingdom:
	
		
			   Generation from biomass transferred to the public distribution system (GWh)  Total electricity supplied (GWh)  Biomass as a proportion of supply (percentage) 
			 2001 1,532 371,187 0.4 
			 2002 1,906 368,979 0.5 
			 2003 2,375 374,469 0.6 
			 2004 2,792 373,401 0.7 
			 2005 4,218 379,485 1.1 
			  Note: These figures are the latest available data and include the contribution of biomass co-fired with fossil fuels.   Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics, 2006.

Energy Supply: European Union

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent representations he has received on the liberalisation of the energy sector in the EU.

Malcolm Wicks: Ministers and officials are in regular contact with business and others to discuss further action to liberalise the internal energy market.
	Following endorsement by the European Council of the Commission's strategic energy review of earlier this year, we expect the Commission to bring forward proposals for legislation in the autumn.

EU Law: Recycling

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether he has received representations opposing the producer compliance schemes requirement under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive for all participants to be jointly and severally liable for other businesses within the scheme.

Malcolm Wicks: The WEEE regulations prevent a producer from being excluded from a scheme part way through a compliance period. Producer Compliance Schemes have made representations on this in relation to a situation when a producer fails to pay its membership fees and thus the scheme has the obligation but has not received the necessary payments from the producer to cover the associated costs. Producer Compliance Schemes are however required under the regulations to ensure they have sufficient resources to fully discharge the obligation of their members and if a producer does not adhere to the membership requirements, ie payment of fees etc the scheme can use existing debt recovery regulations to pursue the producer.

Insolvency

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps are taken by the Official Receiver in creditor bankruptcy cases to assess the return to creditors that would be achieved through  (a) the appointment of an insolvency practitioner as trustee in bankruptcy and  (b) a fast track voluntary agreement.

Patrick McFadden: In all bankruptcy cases the Official Receiver will identify, and establish valuations for, assets in the bankrupt's estate. Where there are sufficient assets to warrant the appointment of an insolvency practitioner as trustee, then a first meeting of creditors is called for creditors to vote for the insolvency practitioner of their choice who will have responsibility for the realisation of assets and distribution of funds to creditors.
	In cases where there are no assets, or insufficient assets to attract an insolvency practitioner, the Official Receiver will not call a first meeting of creditors and will be appointed trustee.
	Since 2002 The Insolvency Service has had a policy of retaining and dealing with cases where asset realisations are straightforward and creditors have not indicated they wish to appoint an insolvency practitioner. In most cases this provides a higher return to creditors.
	All bankrupts are provided with the "Guide to Bankruptcy" which sets out the various alternatives to bankruptcy. If the facts of the case suggest that a Fast Track Voluntary Arrangement (FTVA) is appropriate, it will also be discussed with the bankrupt at interview. The key factor in determining whether an FTVA is appropriate is whether the creditors will receive a better return from the FTVA than they could obtain in the bankruptcy.

Insolvency

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps are taken by Official Receivers in creditor bankruptcy cases to ensure that the best return to the bankrupt's creditors is achieved.

Patrick McFadden: In all bankruptcy cases the Official Receiver will identify what assets are comprised in the bankrupt's estate and will obtain third party verification of the valuations given by the bankrupt.
	Where there are sufficient assets to warrant the appointment of an insolvency practitioner as trustee, a first meeting of creditors is called, and the creditors vote for the insolvency practitioner of their choice who is responsible for the realisation of the assets and distribution of funds to creditors.
	In cases where there are no or insufficient assets, the Official Receiver will not call a first meeting of creditors and will be appointed as trustee.
	Since 2002 The Insolvency Service has had a policy of retaining and dealing with cases where asset realisations are straightforward and creditors have not expressed a wish to appoint an insolvency practitioner. In the majority of cases this provides a greater return for creditors.
	In cases where the Official Receiver forms the view that an Individual Voluntary Arrangement or Fast Track Voluntary Arrangement would produce a better return to creditors than a bankruptcy, he will inform the bankrupt of these options.

Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry: Arbitration

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what proportion of cases that have gone through the Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry's dispute resolution procedures have been successfully arbitrated.

Patrick McFadden: The Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry's dispute resolution scheme is voluntary for members of these industries and therefore the hon. Member should consult the scheme's administrators for details of its performance.

Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry: Arbitration

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment his Department has made of the Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry's dispute resolution procedures; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: In the light of Michael Gibbons' review and the Government's consultation 'Resolving Disputes in the Workplace', the Government are considering a broad spectrum of approaches to resolving work place disputes, including those procedures currently operated by the Joint Industry Board. The consultation closed on 20 June and the Government will publish their response and proposals for the way forward in the autumn.

Oil

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether the Government plan to review their estimate of when global oil supply will peak following the recent Medium Term Oil Market report published by the International Energy Agency; and if he will make a statement on global oil supplies.

Malcolm Wicks: Although the International Energy Agency's (IEA) July 2007 Medium-Term Oil Market Report has revised downwards projections for future global oil production capacity, it nevertheless still sees total capacity increasing by around 10 per cent. between 2007 and 2012 and remaining above demand. Moreover, the report also notes that:
	"While hydrocarbon resources are finite, nonetheless issues of access to reserves, prevailing investment regime and availability of upstream infrastructure and capital seem greater barriers to medium-term growth than limits to the resource base itself."
	The IEA report therefore supports the approach set out in chapter 1 of the 2007 Energy White Paper: that the key challenge is not one of insufficient global oil resources, but rather one of promoting—domestically and internationally—more investment across the energy sector and also improvements in energy efficiency.

Parental Leave: Low Incomes

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate his Department has made of the length of  (a) paternity leave and  (b) maternity leave taken by people from low income families in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: The most recent data available on take-up of maternity and paternity leave is from the Maternity and Paternity Rights and Benefits: Survey of Parents 2005. The report of findings is available at the House of Commons Library and at www.berr.gov.uk/files/file27446.pdf. Statistics in this report are based on responses from a sample of mothers and fathers who had a child in December 2003 who were surveyed approximately 17 months after the child's birth.
	Estimates of duration of paternity leave and maternity leave have not been analysed for low income families.
	Duration of paternity leave has been analysed by fathers' income. The following table, an excerpt of table 9.1 in the cited report, shows duration of paternity leave split by fathers' income (figures are percentages).
	
		
			  Income (£/month)  No paternity leave  Less than two weeks  Two weeks  More than two weeks 
			 0 to 999 34 27 28 11 
			 1,000 to 1,999 16 32 37 15 
			 2,000 to 2,999 22 37 31 11 
			 3,000 + 21 35 36 9 
		
	
	Duration of maternity leave has been analysed by mothers' income. Table 3.1a of the cited report, shows duration of maternity leave, paid and unpaid, split by hourly pay band. Analysis of this data is presented on pages 28 to 29 of the cited report.
	
		
			  Income (£/hour)  Less than 26 weeks maternity leave  26 weeks maternity leave  27 to 51 weeks maternity leave  52 weeks + maternity leave 
			 O to five 14 64 11 10 
			 Six to eight 10 57 18 14 
			 Nine to 11 12 42 24 21 
			 12 to 14 14 33 35 17 
			 15 to 19 17 32 32 19 
			 20 + 19 30 30 21

Renewables Obligation

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the annual cost was of the renewables obligation to the average household in 2006; and what the projected cost is of the obligation to the average household by 2010.

Malcolm Wicks: Ofgem have calculated the annual cost to the average household in 2006-07 to be £7.35. This is projected to rise to £11.41 by 2010-11 at 2006 prices.

Renewables Obligation

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what his estimate is of the increase in renewable energy generation since the implementation of the Renewables Obligation; what the average cost has been per household  (a) in total and  (b) per kilowatt hour generated; and what estimate he has made of the cost of delivering the same increase through different feed in tariff mechanisms.

Malcolm Wicks: According to the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2006 (DUKES), renewables electricity generation from RO eligible sources has increased from 5.75 TWh in 2002 to 13.17 TWh in 2005.
	Ofgem have calculated the cumulative cost of the RO from 2002-03 to 2005-06 (the last date for which figures are currently available) to consumers to be £21.81 per household (in 2002 prices).
	Ofgem have also calculated the overall UK price per kWh of electricity generated by the RO. Between 2002-03 and 2005-06 it fell from 5.1 pence per kWh to 3.9 pence per kWh.
	As we have said in the "Meeting the Energy Challenge",
	"while a number of other EU member states have used mechanisms such as feed-in tariffs, it is hard to draw firm conclusions as to the effectiveness of these mechanisms from international comparisons, as other forms of support also vary".

World War II: Medals

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will make Bevin Boy badges available to the  (a) widows and  (b) children of those who qualified for it but have died.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 3 July 2007
	As with other veteran badges the Bevin Boys Badge is a survivors badge and it is intended that it can be worn in public by Bevin Boys to raise awareness of the important role they played during World War II and in the post-war reconstruction of the UK. However, as it is anticipated that the application form will not be launched before October this year it is proposed that applications will be accepted from the widows of Bevin Boys who died on or after 20 June 2007, when the badge was announced, where a death and marriage certificate are attached to the application. Precise details will be announced when the application form is released.

Academies

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what freedoms are available to academies which are not automatically available to local authority schools; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Academies have a range of freedoms which are not automatically available to local authority schools.
	These freedoms include:
	Freedom to establish their own pay and conditions system for staff, with the exception of those who transfer from the predecessor school under the Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment Regulations.
	A greater degree of flexibility in their curriculum provision than community schools. Following the Secretary of State's statement on 10 July 2007, all future Academies will follow the National Curriculum programmes of study in the core subjects: English; Science, Maths and ICT. However Academies do not have to follow the National Curriculum disapplication procedures.
	Greater flexibility over the size and composition of governing bodies. Academy governance is not prescribed in regulations, but the Department does insist on parental and local authority representation in all cases: all Academies must have one elected parent and one governor appointed by the local authority. Beyond this, Academies are free to determine their own governance arrangements.
	Freedom over the length of school days and the number of sessions taught. This allows Academies to tailor the school day to target underachievement and raise standards as effectively as possible.

Academies

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many academies there were in each year since 2000-01; and how many he expects there to be in each year to 2012-13.

Jim Knight: The Government are committed to opening 400 academies. Details of the number of academies opened and planned to open between 2002 (when the first academy opened) and 2008 are included in the following table. The number of academies that open in subsequent years will depend on the final allocation of the Department's comprehensive spending Review settlement. We remain committed to our target of the same 200 academies open for in the pipeline by 2010 as we progress to opening 400 academies.
	
		
			   Number 
			 2002 3 
			 2003 9 
			 2004 5 
			 2005 10 
			 2006 19 
			 April 2007 1 
			 September 2007 36 
			 2008 50

Academies: General Certificate of Secondary Education

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the  (a) GCSE results and  (b) truancy rates were for each academy in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The first academies opened in September 2002, so the first year in which GCSEs were taken by academy pupils was 2003, GCSE results for each academy where pupils have taken GCSEs are provided in tables A and B.
	The Department collects information on unauthorised absence rates, which include instances of lateness and family holidays that have not been authorised by the school, as well as truancy. Table C shows the unauthorised absence rates for each academy for 2002-03 (the first year in which academies were open and submitted absence data) to 2005-06 (the latest absence data available). Overall, the level of unauthorised absence in academies shows a downward trend.
	
		
			  Table A :  Percentage of pupils in academies achieving  five  A( 1) -C at GCSE 
			  Academy  Year opened  2003 KS4 results( 1)  2004 KS4 results( 1)  2005 KS4 results  2006 KS4 results 
			 The Business Academy, Bexley 2002 21.0 34.3 29.1 32.3 
			 Greig City Academy, Haringey 2002 35.0 25.7 54.6 60.7 
			 Unity City Academy, Middlesbrough 2002 15.7 17.4 16.2 33.5 
			 The Academy at Peckham 2003 n/a 11,9 22.0 30.1 
			 Capital City Academy, Brent 2003 n/a 29,2 16.4 31.3 
			 The West London Academy, Ealing 2003 n/a 34.7 28.2 47.7 
			 Manchester Academy 2003 n/a 8.4 24.6 28.7 
			 The City Academy, Bristol 2003 n/a 32.7 53.6 49.7 
			 The Kings Academy, Middlesbrough 2003 n/a 33.8 43.6 34.8 
			 The Walsall City Academy 2003 n/a 50,0 65.5 57.4 
			 Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham 2003 n/a 51.5 58.3 56.7 
			 London Academy, Barnet 2004 n/a n/a 48.2 50.9 
			 Stockley Academy, Hillingdon 2004 n/a n/a 19.8 31.9 
			 Northampton Academy 2004 n/a n/a 35.2 40.2 
			 St Paul's Academy, Greenwich 2005 n/a n/a n/a 59.1 
			 Haberdashers' Knights Academy, Lewisham 2005 n/a n/a n/a 29.3 
			 Harefield Academy, Hillingdon 2005 n/a n/a n/a 32.1 
			 The Academy of St Francis of Assisi, Liverpool 2005 n/a n/a n/a 40.2 
			 Salford City Academy 2005 n/a n/a n/a 49.5 
			 Trinity Academy, Doncaster 2005 n/a n/a n/a 33.8 
			 Marlowe Academy, Kent 2005 n/a n/a n/a 28.0 
			 Dixons City Academy, Bradford** 2005 n/a n/a n/a 96.9 
			 Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Academy, Lewisham(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a 93.6 
			 Macmillan Academy, Middlesbrough(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a 92.9 
			 (1) 2003 and 2004 results are based on pupils who were aged 15 at the time of taking their KS4 exams. This changed to any pupils that had taken their exams by the end of K84 in 2005.  (2) Former City technology colleges that have converted to Academy status.   Source: KS4 School Level Attainment Files 
		
	
	
		
			  Table B: Percentage of pupils in academies achieving five A( 1) -C including English and Maths at GCSE 
			  Academy  Year opened  2003 KS4 results( 1)  2004 KS4 results( 1)  2005 KS4 results  2006 KS4 results 
			 The Business Academy, Bexley 2002 15.2 13.1 15.7 27.1 
			 Greig City Academy, Haringey 2002 19.4 9.9 10.0 15.2 
			 Unity City Academy, Middlesbrough 2002 7.1 7.5 6.3 14.1 
			 The Academy at Peckham 2003 n/a 10.3 17.7 22.9 
			 Capital City Academy, Brent 2003 n/a 16.7 11.5 18.3 
			 The West London Academy, Ealing 2003 n/a 7.6 10.9 25.2 
			 Manchester Academy 2003 n/a 5.9 12.3 22.8 
			 The City Academy, Bristol 2003 n/a 15.8 19.3 17.6 
			 The Kings Academy, Middlesbrough 2003 n/a 26.5 22.9 23.0 
			 The Walsall City Academy 2003 n/a 5.4 18.2 24.1 
			 Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham 2003 n/a 19.4 17.9 25.6 
			 London Academy, Barnet 2004 n/a n/a 24.1 32.0 
			 Stockley Academy, Hillingdon 2004 n/a n/a 9.4 16.0 
			 Northampton Academy 2004 n/a n/a 17.6 23.8 
			 St. Paul's Academy, Greenwich 2005 n/a n/a n/a 39.1 
			 Haberdashers' Knights Academy, Lewisham 2005 n/a n/a n/a 14.3 
			 Harefield Academy, Hillingdon 2005 n/a n/a n/a .31.1 
			 The Academy of St Francis of Assisi, Liverpool 2005 n/a n/a n/a 17.0 
			 Salford City Academy 2005 n/a n/a n/a 26.7 
			 Trinity Academy, Doncaster 2005 n/a n/a n/a 19.4 
			 Marlowe Academy, Kent 2005 n/a n/a n/a 4.9 
			 Dixons City Academy, Bradford(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a 78.9 
			 Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Academy, Lewisham(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a 90.7 
			 Macmillan Academy, Middlesbrough(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a 67.0 
			 (1 )2003 and 2004 results are based on pupils who were aged 15 at the time of taking their KS4 exams. This changed to any pupils that had taken their exams by the end of KS4 in 2005.  (2) Former City technology colleges that have converted to academy status   Source: KS4 School Level Attainment Files. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table C: Unauthorised absence in academies 
			  Academy  Year opened  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 The Business Academy, Bexley 2002 2.0 1.0 0.7 1.1 
			 Greig City Academy, Haringey 2002 5.1 1.9 1.4 0.6 
			 Unity City Academy, Middlesbrough 2002 2.0 2.8 6.2 6.1 
			 The Academy at Peckham 2003 n/a 3.6 2.8 1.9 
			 Capital City Academy, Brent 2003 n/a 5.9 6.5 1.1 
			 The West London Academy, Ealing 2003 n/a 2.6 2.0 0.7 
			 Manchester Academy 2003 n/a 4.2 2.5 1.5 
			 The City Academy, Bristol 2003 n/a 0.2 0.4 1.1 
			 The Kings Academy, Middlesbrough 2003 n/a 8,2 7.3 5.7 
			 The Walsall City Academy 2003 n/a 0.3 0.8 0.7 
			 Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham 2003 n/a 1.4 1.7 1.6 
			 London Academy, Barnet 2004 n/a n/a 0.5 0.5 
			 City of London Southwark Academy 2004 n/a n/a 1.2 1.2 
			 Lambeth Academy 2004 n/a n/a 2.4 1.2 
			 Stockley Academy, Hillingdon 2004 n/a n/a 3.9 4.3 
			 Northampton Academy 2004 n/a n/a 3.2 2.8 
			 Mossbourne Community Academy, Hackney 2004 n/a n/a 0.2 0,2 
			 St Paul's Academy, Greenwich 2005 n/a n/a n/a 0.8 
			 Haberdashers' Knights Academy, Lewisham 2005 n/a n/a n/a 2.3 
			 Harefield Academy, Hillingdon 2005 n/a n/a n/a 1.4 
			 The Academy of St Francis of Assisi, Liverpool 2005 n/a n/a n/a 3.1 
			 Salford City Academy 2005 n/a n/a n/a 2.3 
			 Trinity Academy, Doncaster 2005 n/a n/a n/a 4.3 
			 Marlowe Academy, Kent 2005 n/a n/a n/a (1)— 
			 Dixons City Academy, Bradford(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a (3)— 
			 Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Academy, Lewisham(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a 0.5 
			 Macmillan Academy, Middlesbrough(2) 2005 n/a n/a n/a (3)— 
			 (1) No information received.  (2) Former City Technology Colleges that have converted to Academy status.  (3) Percentage of half days missed due to unauthorised absence is less than 0.1 per cent.   Source: Achievement and Attainment Tables.

Care Proceedings

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the proposals contained in the Public Law Outline on  (a) the time taken to complete and  (b) the costs of cases coming to court.

Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
	The judiciary are currently seeking views on a revised Public Law Outline, designed to reduce unnecessary delay by providing a more streamlined case management process for public law care cases. The current six case management stages, within the existing case management protocol are reduced to four. The Public Law Outline proposals take forward a key recommendation contained in the "Review of the Child Care Proceedings System in England and Wales", commissioned jointly by the former Department for Constitutional Affairs and the former Department for Education and Skills and published in May 2006. The review's recommendations are intended to achieve better outcomes for children, as well as helping to ensure that resources across the family justice system are used to best effect. Reduction in unnecessary delay together with an increased emphasis on pre-proceedings preparation should contribute to a containment of costs.

Children: Obesity

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children have been placed on child protection registers due to obesity concerns.

Beverley Hughes: The information is not available in the form requested.
	The latest figures on the numbers and percentage of children subject to Child Protection Plans or placed on the Child Protection Register were published in a Statistical First Release (SFR) 045/2006 "Referrals, Assessments and Children and Young People on Child Protection Registers, England—Year ending 31 March 2006" on 16 November 2006. A copy of this release is available on my Department's website:
	www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/
	The 'Working Together to Safeguard Children: Every Child Matters' guidance published in 2006 by the Government sets out the clear processes to be followed by agencies if there are concerns about a child's welfare. A copy of this document is available from the Library.

Climate Change: Curriculum

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what resources have been provided to primary and secondary schools by his Department to ensure improved teaching of issues relating to climate change; and what future such resourcing is planned.

Jim Knight: In May 2007, DCSF and DEFRA sent a climate change pack to every secondary school in England. The online teacher guidance accompanying the pack provided material to support the teaching of climate change in geography, science and citizenship. DCSF has also funded a carbon detective kit for pupils aged seven to 14 to help them investigate the sustainability performance of their own school www.carbondetectives.org.uk. The pack and detective kit are part of the wider DCSF Sustainable Schools programme which aims to embed sustainability in the curriculum, how schools operate (e.g. reducing energy and water usage) and in their work with the local community:
	www.teachernet.gov/uk/sustainableschools
	As part of the Action Plan for Geography launched in March 2006, teaching resources are being developed for the new secondary curriculum to be taught in schools from September 2008—these include modules on climate change. This work will be linked to wider guidance being developed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to support the implementation of the new curriculum.
	In addition to work being supported by DCSF, DEFRA have sponsored a number of projects aimed at raising awareness of climate change through the Climate Challenge Fund. 17 out of the 83 projects have schools as their main audience or have specifically targeted aspects of their project. These projects include a wide variety of resources from online tools, workshops for teachers, DVDs, peer to peer education and touring exhibitions:
	www.climatechallenge.gov.uk
	In the autumn, DCSF will make a Sustainable Schools teacher resource pack available which will include materials on climate change.

Departments: Legislation

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what legislative provisions introduced by his Department's predecessor since 1997 have not yet been brought into force.

Jim Knight: The information requested is as follows:
	 DCSF Acts still to be implemented in England
	 School Standards and Framework Act 1998
	section 128 (substitutes new section 18 of Education Act 1996 re Financial Assistance to non-maintained schools)
	
		
			  Education Act 2002 
			  Sections  
			 8-10 Exemptions for schools which meet performance criteria 
			 31 Control of school premises 
			 201 Provisions relating to free school lunches/milk for children in funded nursery education outside the maintained school setting 
		
	
	
		
			  Childcare Act 2006 
			  Sections  
			 2-5 Improvement of young children's well-being 
			 6-10 Child care 
			 17 Charges 
			 32-38 Child care registers and regulation of early years provision 
			 40, 47-51 Early years foundation stage 
			 52-61 Regulation of later years provision for children under eight 
			 65, 76 Voluntary registrations 
			 80, 81 Reports and information 
			 95 Certain institutions not to be regarded as schools 
		
	
	
		
			  Education and Inspections Act 2006 
			  Sections  
			 5 School improvement partners (in form only in relation to secondary schools that are not special schools and primary schools which are not special schools and special schools in LEAs listed in the commencement orders) 
			 37 Staff at foundation or voluntary school with religious character 
			 74(1), (2), (3), (5) Curriculum requirements for key stage 4 
			 75 Modification to Learning and Skills Act 2000 in relation to education and training to satisfy entitlements 
			 77 and Schedule 8 Travel to schools etc: meaning of "eligible child". Partially in force 
			 81 LEAs in England provision of transport for certain adult learners 
			 154 Duty to report on contribution of certain schools to community cohesion 
			 169 to 171 Prohibition in participation in management of independent schools 
		
	
	
		
			  Children Act 2004 
			 Section 1.8 In force only in so far as it gives authorities the power to appoint an officer (a director if children's services) for the purposes specified in that section 
			 Section 19 Not yet in force 
			 Schedule 2 Not yet in force* 
		
	
	 Children and Adoption Act 2006
	Not yet in force except for section 17 (short title, commencement and extent),  Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
	Not yet in force.

Education: Children in Care

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what measures he has put in place to improve the educational achievements of children in institutional care.

Jim Knight: Our recently published White Paper "Care Matters: Time for Change" sets out specific proposals to improve the education of all children in care. Most children in care live with foster carers—only 13 per cent. live in children's homes. Our proposals include: a £500 educational allowance for children in care at risk of falling behind at school; putting the 'designated teacher' on a statutory footing to Improve the expertise in schools; appointing 'virtual school heads' to oversee their education; improving attendance and reducing exclusions; reducing mobility of school placements, particularly in the crucial years before GCSEs; and a bursary of a minimum of £2,000 for all children in care who go on to university. These proposals build on the measures already in place: a specific duty on local authorities to promote the educational achievement of children in care and a requirement to give them the highest priority in school admission arrangements.

Further Education: Young People

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of children did not remain in education after the age of 16 years in each year since 1990-91; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The figures provided are for individuals at academic age 16(1) who were not in education or training (NET) in each year from 1990 to 2006. These figures are available in the Statistical First Release published by the Department (SFR 22/2007).
	These NET figures are calculated by subtracting the number of young people estimated to be in education and training from the population; here education and training covers those in full- or part-time education, work-based learning (including apprenticeships), and those on employer funded or other education and training not otherwise included in the figures.
	(1 )Academic age is the age of the individual measured at the beginning of the academic year, 31 August. Academic age 16 would be for those individuals in the year following compulsory education.
	
		
			  End of calendar year  Total NET  Percentage NET of the population  16-year-old population 
			 1990 88,000 14.7 599,100 
			 1991 67,000 11.7 573,100 
			 1992 61,500 11.2 550,300 
			 1993 49,900 9.4 531,200 
			 1994a* 50,500 9.3 545,800 
			 1994b* 50,400 9.2 545,800 
			 1995 68,400 11.5 595,000 
			 1996 77,500 12.6 613,600 
			 1997 79,200 13.1 605,900 
			 1998 81,300 13.7 594,500 
			 1999 77,300 12.9 598,800 
			 2000 82,300 13.6 606,700 
			 2001 90,600 14.3 633,500 
			 2002 85,900 13.6 631,600 
			 2003 85,100 13.1 647,800 
			 2004 82,700 12.4 664,800 
			 2005 74,000 11.3 656,000 
			 2006 provisional 68,500 10.3 662,300 
		
	
	The break in the time series in 1994 is due to changes in the source of further and higher education data; additionally overseas HE students studying in England are included from 1994 onwards.

Literacy: Publishing

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  on what basis publishers are included in the list of publishers and their programmes in the Choosing a phonics programme: publishers and their programmes section of his Department's Standards Site;
	(2)  whether he plans to assess the effectiveness of the Letters and Sounds programme against alternative synthetic phonics programmes;
	(3)  whether the Letters and Sounds programme was piloted prior to its adoption by the Primary National Strategy;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Letters and Sounds programme developed by the Primary National Strategy;
	(5)  what steps his Department is taking to encourage the adoption of effective synthetic phonics programmes in primary schools;
	(6)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the phonics programmes listed on the Choosing a phonics programme: publishers and their programmes section of his Department's Standards Site.

Jim Knight: The Department launched a new phonics area of the standards website in March this year. The website contains published criteria to help schools and early years settings judge how well phonics teaching programmes meet the characteristics of high quality phonic work as defined in Sir Jim Rose's review of the teaching of early reading. To ensure that this process is as easy and useful as possible for schools and settings we have invited publishers of commercial programmes to evaluate their own programme against the criteria and complete a self-assessment form which is then published on the site. This is a purely voluntary process.
	The Department does not rank, endorse or promote any particular commercial phonics programme. We have committed to establishing a monitoring process to assess the accuracy of the information provided in the self-evaluation forms. This process is currently being developed and further information about how it will work will be provided on the website.
	Letters and Sounds is one of many high quality phonics teaching programmes which meet the core criteria and we are not promoting it as the preferred phonics programme. An early version of the materials was previewed in some local authorities and with practitioners and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Letters and Sounds was distributed to all primary schools and local authorities during May and June. It will therefore take some time for the full effects to become known but we are confident that Letters and Sounds will make a significant contribution to improving standards of literacy. Initial feedback from practitioners indicates a very positive response to the materials and we will use this information to further refine our support for local authorities. The Primary National Strategy is monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of Letters and Sounds and Sir Jim Rose has been asked to report back at the end of the year on the implementation of his recommendations, including on Letters and Sounds.
	Systematic, high quality phonics is proven to be the most effective way of teaching children to read and is an integral part of the renewed primary literacy framework and the early years foundation stage. The resources and guidance on the phonics website provide schools and early years settings with the tools they need to make informed decisions about which high quality phonics programme will best suit their needs. The Primary National Strategy's Communication Language and Literacy Development (CLLD) programme, which builds on the successful Early Reading Development Pilot, was developed to implement the recommendations of Sir Jim's review. The programme began in autumn 2006. Through the programme, every local authority now has a local CLLD lead who will work to strengthen leadership and management of early literacy and support all primary schools and early years settings in the use of an effective phonics programme.

Numeracy: Policy

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what  (a) numeracy and  (b) literacy strategies have been announced since 1 May 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Government introduced the National Literacy Strategy in 1998 and the National Numeracy Strategy in 1999. These both applied to primary schools. The Key Stage 3 Strategy, which covered English, maths, science and ICT was introduced in phases from 2001. Each of the strategies has been continually updated to reflect best practice through the addition of further support and materials.
	In 2006, the primary framework for literacy and mathematics—the core document of the Primary National Strategy—was revised to raise expectations of progress and implement the recommendations of the Rose review. This was the first time the framework had been updated since the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy and National Numeracy Strategy.

Personal Social and Health Education

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the standards of sex and relationships education in schools.

Jim Knight: The Department has not undertaken or commissioned any recent assessment of sex and relationship education (SRE) in schools. Ofsted is responsible for assessing the quality of schools' provision in the area of personal, social and health education (PSHE), including SRE, through its inspection framework and subject reports, and last reported on SRE in 'Sex and Relationships Education in Schools' in 2002.

Primary Education: Autism

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of primary school age children diagnosed with autism.

Jim Knight: In January 2007 some 18,800 children in maintained primary schools were identified as having an autistic spectrum disorder and provision made for them at the School Action Plus level of support as set out in the SEN Code of Practice or through a statement. Further information on Special Education Needs can be found in SFR 20/2007, which is available on the Department's website at:
	http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s00732/index.shtml

Primary Education: Children in Care

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of 11-year-old children in care achieved at least level 4 at Key Stage 2 in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: holding answer 16 July 2007
	In 2006 the proportion of children continuously looked after for at least 12 months aged 11 and achieving at least level 4 at Key Stage 2 for English, maths and science was 43 per cent., 41 per cent. and 57 per cent. respectively(1). Although educational outcomes for children in care are improving slowly more needs to be done to close the achievement gap compared to all children.
	Our White Paper, "Care Matters: Time for Change" describes how we will improve educational outcomes for children in care. Measures include giving all children in care at risk of not meeting expected levels of achievement a personal educational allowance of £500; requiring all schools to have a designated teacher to focus on the learning needs of this vulnerable group and funding 'virtual school heads' to drive up attainment, school attendance and reduce exclusions of children in care. We also intend to legislate so that children in care move schools only in exceptional circumstances, particularly during their GCSE years.
	(1) Statistical First Release (SFR) 17/2007 "Outcome Indicators for Looked After Children: 12 Months to 30 September 2006, England', www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.

Primary Education: Curriculum

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will list the curriculum changes in  (a) primary schools and  (b) secondary schools since 1 May 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: A revised curriculum was introduced in 2000. For primary schools the changes were:
	the introduction of a statement setting out the rationale for the school curriculum, including its values and aims;
	a new general statement on inclusion, setting out the different ways in which teachers should ensure that individuals or groups of pupils are provided with appropriate opportunities for learning across all national curriculum subjects;
	the introduction of revised English programmes of study at key stages 1 and 2 which are aligned with the national literacy strategy 'Framework for teaching';
	the introduction of revised mathematics programmes of study at key stages 1 and 2 which are aligned with the 'Framework for teaching mathematics';
	the introduction of a non-statutory framework for the teaching of personal, social and health education.
	For secondary schools the changes were:
	the introduction of a statement setting out the rationale for the school curriculum, including its values and aims;
	a new general statement on inclusion, setting out the different ways in which teachers should ensure that individuals or groups of pupils are provided with appropriate opportunities for learning across all national curriculum subjects;
	the introduction of citizenship as a subject at key stages 3 and 4;
	allowing more flexibility at key stage 4 to enable pupils making significantly less progress than their peers to focus on fewer subjects and allow talented pupils to build on their strengths.
	In September 2004, the key stage 4 curriculum was amended to reduce the number of compulsory national curriculum subjects to six: English, mathematics, science, ICT, citizenship and physical education. We also introduced entitlement areas in languages, design and technology, the arts, and humanities.
	A review of the secondary curriculum was recently completed and will be rolled out to secondary schools from September 2008. The new secondary curriculum will:
	further reduce prescription;
	create flexibility for teachers to support pupils who are struggling to master the basic skills of English and mathematics;
	free up time and space for greater personalisation of the curriculum, allowing pupils to study some areas in more depth;
	increase the emphasis placed on developing personal, learning and thinking skills.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the funding was per  (a) primary and  (b) secondary school pupil in the Bath and North East Somerset council area in each year from 1995-96 to 2006-07.

Jim Knight: The revenue funding figures per pupil aged 3-10 and 11-15 for Bath and North East Somerset local authority for years 1997-98 to 2005-06 are given in the following table. Comparable figures are not available for 1995-96 to 1996-97.
	
		
			   Primary (3 to 10-year-olds)  Secondary (11 to 15-year-olds) 
			 1997-98 2,230 3,020 
			 1998-99 2,350 3,100 
			 1999-2000 2,510 3,260 
			 2000-01 2,710 3,500 
			 2001-02 2,850 3,610 
			 2002-03 2,900 3,680 
			 2003-04 3,070 3,800 
			 2004-05 3,140 3,950 
			 2005-06 3,360 4,140 
			  Notes : 1. Price Base: Real terms at 2005-06 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 27 September 2006. 2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment/Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS. 3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DCSF Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged 3-10 and 11-15, and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level 4. The pupil numbers used to convert £ million figures to £ per pupil are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC 3-year-old maintained pupils and estimated 3 to 4-year-olds funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers. 5. Founding: Figures are rounded to the nearest £10. 6. Status: Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised, if these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal. 
		
	
	The revenue per pupil figures shown in the following table are taken from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which was introduced in April 2006. They are in cash terms. They are not comparable with those for the years 1997-98 to 2005-06 because the introduction of the DSG in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded.
	The 1997-98 to 2005-06 figures are based on Education Formula Spending (EPS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. In addition, the DSG has a different coverage to EFS. EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG's Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. Consequently, there is a break in the Department's time series as the two sets of data are not comparable. An alternative time series is currently under development.
	To provide a comparison for 2006-07 DSG, the Department have isolated the schools block equivalent funding in 2005-06; as described above this does not represent the totality of 'education' funding in that year. As the DSG is just a mechanism for distributing funding there is not a primary/secondary split available. The figures are for all funded pupils aged 3-15.
	
		
			   Figures 
			  2005-06  
			 DSG baseline plus grants 3,993 
			   
			  2006-07  
			 DSG plus grants 4,235 
			  Notes: 1.The revenue funding per pupil figures only run to 2005-06 because we cannot provide a consistent time series beyond that year as the introduction of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded. The 1997-98 to 2005-06 figures are based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. In 2006-07 funding for schools changed with the introduction of the DSG which is based largely on an authority's previous spending, 2. In addition, DSG has a different coverage to EFS: EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG's Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. This means we have a break in our time series as the two sets of data are not comparable, an alternative time series is currently under development. 3. To provide a comparison for 2006-07 DSG, we have isolated the schools block equivalent funding in 2005-06; as described above this does not represent the totality of 'education' funding in that year. 4. Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal.

School Leaving

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the  (a) costs and  (b) benefits of raising the education leaving age to 18 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The estimated costs of raising the participation age are set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment published alongside the Green Paper on 22 March. This can be accessed at:
	http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/RIA%20[FINAL]%20word%20version.pdf
	I have placed a copy in the Library of the House. We estimate that there will be one-off costs of around £200 million, made up of £80 million for new buildings and facilities, and £120 million for the training of new staff. We estimate that there will be annual costs of around £740 million on top of costs already factored into achieving our existing aspiration of 90 per cent. participation of 17-year-olds by 2015. This is made up of £590 million in additional participation costs, £50 million in additional funding for local authorities (to run the registration system, to provide additional support and guidance, and to enforce the duty), £10 million in enforcement costs and £90 million in additional costs to support those with special educational needs (SEN).
	Initial analysis suggests that the additional economic benefit to the economy from all young people participating to 18, over and above the current 90 per cent. participation aspiration, is around £1.4 billion for a single cohort of young people (discounted over their lifetime). The likely benefits of raising the participation age are much wider than this, however, as we know those who participate and attain post 16 enjoy better health, better social skills and reduced likelihood of being involved in crime.

School Sixth Forms

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the oral answer of 10 July 2007, on school sixth forms, by which mechanism  (a) funding for new sixth forms will be routed through local education authorities and  (b) pupils involved in 14 to 19 programmes in (i) schools and (ii) further education colleges will be funded.

Jim Knight: Arrangements for the transition of funding for 16 to 18's in school sixth forms and colleges to LAs, including the mechanisms which will be used to route funds through LAs to schools, will be subject to consultation to ensure there will be no disruption to schools and colleges and the introduction of diplomas, and subject to the passage of the necessary legislation,
	Funding of diplomas at KS4 from 2008-09 will be through a new specific formula grant to LAs, as announced in the written statement on school funding made to Parliament on 25 June.

Schools: Finance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  what progress has been made towards the target set in the 2006 Budget to bring state school funding per pupil up to the private school level; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  by what date he expects to reach the target of raising spending on pupils in English state schools to the equivalent level in the private education sector; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Total funding per pupil in the maintained sector was £4,800 in 2005-08 compared with our estimate of £8,000 per pupil in the independent sector. As set out in Budget 2006, the Government aim—over time, and adjusting for inflation—to increase levels of funding to that level. The comprehensive spending review settlement for education announced in Budget 2007 allows the Government to take a significant further step towards this ambition—with total per pupil revenue and capital funding rising from under £2,500 in 1997-98 to £5,550 in 2007-08 and £6,600 in 2010-11. Progress over future spending reviews will depend on the Government's fiscal position; demographic change; and progress by schools in continuing to deliver improvements in results and wider support for parents and pupils.

Schools: Fire Prevention

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to install sprinklers in existing and new build primary and secondary schools.

Jim Knight: Our policy is that all new primary and secondary schools will have fire sprinklers installed. The decision should be taken based on a risk analysis. There may be a few cases where new schools are at a low risk of fire and that sprinklers would not represent good value for money. The risk analysis and cost benefit analysis tools we have recently published to help clients decide whether or not to install sprinkler systems in schools can also be used to determine whether or not an existing school should have sprinklers fitted, as part of a major refurbishment project.

Schools: Further Education

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to increase the number of schools with post-16 provision; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: In the 14-19 Education and Skills Implementation Plan published in December 2005, we set out our plans to create 50,000 additional 16-19 school, college and work based learning places by September 2007. We will ensure that in every area, young people have access to high quality post-16 learning opportunities in schools, colleges and work-based learning.
	We believe in encouraging successful and popular schools to develop sixth form provision. We have introduced the 'sixth form presumption' that sixth form proposals will be approved from high performing specialist schools that are awarded a vocational specialism, Over three years, we anticipate this will enable around 60 schools to add new post-16 provision. 13 schools successfully applied to open sixth form provision in 2006/07 through this route, and a further 27 are eligible to do in 2007/08.
	Additional school sixth forms will also be created to meet local need as a result of other proposals from local authorities and schools, through the Academies programme, through local Building Schools for the Future capital investment strategies and as a result of 16-19 competitions (which are run by the Learning and Skills Council where there is a need for substantial new post-16 provision that is not met through an Academy or a 'presumption' proposal). In parallel, we have also introduced the 'FE presumption1' which encourages high performing colleges to expand to provide additional places for 16 to 19-year-olds.

Schools: Manpower

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many  (a) teachers,  (b) pupils,  (c) teaching assistants and  (d) support staff there were in English (i) primary schools and (ii) secondary schools in each year since 1996.97, broken down by each local authority area; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Information for all the years requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The following tables provide the full-time equivalent number of teachers, pupils, teaching assistants and support staff in local authority maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools for each local authority in England, January 1997 and 2006, the latest information available.
	Pupil numbers by local authority and phase are published as national statistics each year and this information for 2006 is available on the Departments website at the following URL:
	http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000682/index.shtml.
	2007 local authority figures are likely to be available on 27 September.
	
		
			  F ull - time equivalent support staff( 1)  in local authority maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools ,  January 1997 and 2006 , b y local authority area and government office region in England 
			   1997  2006 
			   Teaching assistants( 2)  Support staff( 3)  Teaching assistants( 2)  Support staff( 3) 
			   Nursery/  primary  Secondary  Nursery/  primary  Secondary  Nursery/  primary  Secondary  Nursery/  primary  Secondary 
			  England 41,870 7,820 75,740 42,480 99,040 33,490 154,370 104,210 
			  
			  North  E ast 2,180 190 3,200 1,730 4,300 1,480 6,860 5,220 
			 Gateshead 150 — 230 90 340 50 470 290 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 210 10 320 180 360 160 670 550 
			 North Tyneside 160 — 230 150 250 90 420 460 
			 South Tyneside 130 — 180 70 280 100 350 300 
			 Sunderland 300 30 420 190 570 140 820 600 
			 Hartlepool 70 10 110 80 180 80 370 240 
			 Middlesbrough 140 20 220 130 330 70 490 250 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 100 10 180 110 220 90 430 340 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 160 10 250 130 240 100 520 370 
			 Former Durham 520 30 760 310 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Darlington n/a n/a n/a n/a 200 40 300 160 
			 Durham (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 770 170 1320 830 
			 Northumberland 220 60 300 290 560 380 700 840 
			  
			  North West 6,340 630 9,680 5,100 14,380 4,300 20,500 13,700 
			 Cumbria 460 80 640 430 900 260 1,230 990 
			 Former Cheshire 810 130 1,130 850 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Cheshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,140 360 1,530 1,280 
			 Halton n/a n/a n/a n/a 200 70 290 250 
			 Warrington n/a n/a n/a n/a 430 130 550 380 
			 Bolton 300 40 410 210 690 240 960 660 
			 Bury 200 30 260 120 440 120 520 320 
			 Manchester 530 30 710 290 1,320 330 1,670 880 
			 Oldham 300 20 420 210 610 140 850 580 
			 Rochdale 200 20 300 160 580 180 810 500 
			 Salford 330 20 500 130 460 140 690 380 
			 Stockport 280 20 520 180 570 120 790 450 
			 Tameside 220 10 300 130 420 130 730 400 
			 Trafford 130 20 210 160 250 100 440 380 
			 Wigan 210 30 340 220 610 180 880 590 
			 Former Lancashire 1,280 90 2,050 910 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Lancashire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,560 710 3,520 2,080 
			 Blackburn with Darwen n/a n/a n/a n/a 440 120 620 370 
			 Blackpool n/a n/a n/a n/a 290 90 470 280 
			 Knowsley 140 — 280 130 250 110 510 370 
			 Liverpool 290 30 630 350 710 240 1,320 880 
			 St. Helens 190 10 270 140 410 110 570 360 
			 Sefton 270 40 410 270 510 180 790 600 
			 Wirral 210 20 320 220 590 230 790 720 
			  
			  Yorkshire  a nd  t he Humber 5,150 1,560 8,680 4,830 11,300 4,030 17,240 11,840 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 250 70 490 180 510 240 930 660 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 230 60 420 260 630 250 1,020 740 
			 North East Lincolnshire 160 50 280 150 380 210 600 470 
			 North Lincolnshire 130 30 240 130 370 160 530 370 
			 North Yorkshire 300 70 600 460 1,180 380 1,500 1,140 
			 York 90 10 160 110 330 100 410 290 
			 Barnsley 230 90 400 230 450 150 730 480 
			 Doncaster 350 90 610 330 520 200 940 710 
			 Rotherham 180 40 340 210 560 210 870 730 
			 Sheffield 410 40 670 330 1,080 330 1,530 1,080 
			 Bradford 640 440 1,080 830 1,220 520 2,280 1,410 
			 Calderdale 260 70 410 230 620 160 800 500 
			 Kirklees 400 110 680 370 1,050 270 1,450 840 
			 Leeds 1,130 280 1,660 730 1,640 640 2,530 1,780 
			 Wakefield 380 100 640 280 760 210 1,110 640 
			  
			  East Midlands 3,600 700 6,100 3,770 8,650 3,250 12,570 9,640 
			 Former Derbyshire 850 160 1,280 840 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Derbyshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,490 510 1,920 1,520 
			 Derby n/a n/a n/a n/a 630 180 780 530 
			 Former Leicestershire 650 130 1,480 860 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Leicestershire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,140 460 1,750 1,550 
			 Leicester n/a n/a n/a n/a 690 240 1,120 720 
			 Rutland n/a n/a n/a n/a 80 30 110 80 
			 Lincolnshire 560 130 910 600 1,490 570 1,870 1,590 
			 Northamptonshire 510 160 1,000 710 1,040 580 2,190 1,580 
			 Former Nottinghamshire 1,020 130 1,420 770 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Nottinghamshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,340 480 1,850 1,560 
			 Nottingham n/a n/a n/a n/a 750 190 980 520 
			  
			  West Midlands 5,070 700 8,190 4,370 11,360 3,510 17,030 11,350 
			 Former Hereford and Worcester 340 130 720 540 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Herefordshire n/a n/a n/a n/a 260 100 470 280 
			 Worcestershire n/a n/a n/a n/a 850 490 1,320 1,190 
			 Former Shropshire 320 100 580 420 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Shropshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 470 180 770 540 
			 Telford and Wrekin n/a n/a n/a n/a 440 90 550 320 
			 Former Staffordshire 880 140 1,540 810 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Staffordshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,260 470 2,070 1,590 
			 Stoke-on-Trent n/a n/a n/a n/a 600 130 910 560 
			 Warwickshire 330 70 680 430 1,040 340 1,350 1,010 
			 Birmingham 1,430 160 1,900 880 3,120 660 4,080 2,190 
			 Coventry 270 20 580 290 460 190 1,020 710 
			 Dudley 280 10 400 210 830 240 1,020 640 
			 Sandwell 380 10 530 200 650 190 1,150 680 
			 Solihull 220 20 330 170 410 110 590 450 
			 Walsall 290 30 510 230 550 190 970 630 
			 Wolverhampton 310 20 420 210 410 140 770 580 
			  
			  East  o f England 3,900 1,050 8,410 5,580 11,400 3,900 17,280 12,300 
			 Former Cambridgeshire 750 320 1,350 860 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Cambridgeshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,140 510 1,710 1,130 
			 Peterborough n/a n/a n/a n/a 630 290 780 650 
			 Norfolk 530 80 1,130 600 1,880 460 2,550 1,440 
			 Suffolk 260 130 720 650 870 540 1,610 1,560 
			 Former Bedfordshire 500 130 840 710 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bedfordshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 750 360 1,050 1,110 
			 Luton n/a n/a n/a n/a 620 150 910 530 
			 Former Essex 1,140 270 2,670 1,730 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Essex (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,680 840 4,120 2,940 
			 Southend-on-Sea n/a n/a n/a n/a 480 80 650 400 
			 Thurrock n/a n/a n/a n/a 420 120 650 330 
			 Hertfordshire 730 120 1,700 1,030 1,920 560 3,250 2,210 
			  
			  London 5,980 510 11,600 5,090 16,010 3,850 24,950 12,800 
			  Inner London 2,660 130 4,980 1,650 7,120 1,320 10,990 4,320 
			 Camden 130 30 260 170 460 90 620 320 
			 City of London — — 10 — 10 — 10 — 
			 Hackney 170 — 350 80 590 60 830 240 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 150 — 240 70 310 40 470 200 
			 Haringey 280 — 440 110 670 130 880 410 
			 Islington 200 — 330 90 450 70 620 240 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 120 — 210 60 230 10 350 120 
			 Lambeth 220 — 480 110 570 80 940 270 
			 Lewisham 200 20 410 160 490 120 850 370 
			 Newham 220 30 430 230 710 230 1,620 670 
			 Southwark 290 20 540 140 840 110 1,230 340 
			 Tower Hamlets 310 10 590 180 1030 220 1,270 580 
			 Wandsworth 230 10 460 130 480 80 810 290 
			 Westminster 130 — 230 110 280 80 480 270 
			  Outer London 3,320 370 6,620 3,440 8,880 2,520 13,960 8,480 
			 Barking and Dagenham 230 20 360 130 390 80 550 310 
			 Barnet 230 10 480 280 800 160 1,030 550 
			 Bexley 130 40 270 190 340 160 660 540 
			 Brent 190 10 330 180 510 120 790 460 
			 Bromley 140 10 280 260 340 170 650 610 
			 Croydon 310 20 610 190 690 140 1,100 490 
			 Ealing 260 10 450 140 420 110 710 390 
			 Enfield 180 10 420 230 840 170 1,120 650 
			 Greenwich 240 20 420 150 560 210 910 500 
			 Harrow 200 30 390 140 400 100 730 300 
			 Havering 110 30 330 220 430 160 670 500 
			 Hillingdon 190 50 410 250 510 150 970 520 
			 Hounslow 200 20 350 210 450 140 600 520 
			 Kingston upon Thames 90 — 180 100 240 60 400 230 
			 Merton 150 20 290 100 340 90 540 260 
			 Redbridge 110 30 290 230 650 170 860 570 
			 Richmond upon Thames 70 10 170 100 260 60 360 210 
			 Sutton 120 10 230 150 220 130 480 420 
			 Waltham Forest 190 20 350 180 480 140 830 460 
			  
			  South East 6,340 1,660 12,930 7,430 13,450 5,560 23,970 16,860 
			 Former Berkshire 630 150 1,240 740 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bracknell Forest n/a n/a n/a n/a 120 50 300 190 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead n/a n/a n/a n/a 170 120 360 330 
			 West Berkshire n/a n/a n/a n/a 260 140 500 440 
			 Reading n/a n/a n/a n/a 140 50 410 210 
			 Slough n/a n/a n/a n/a 370 80 580 290 
			 Wokingham n/a n/a n/a n/a 250 100 450 340 
			 Former Buckinghamshire 410 90 990 660 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Buckinghamshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 660 250 1,380 920 
			 Milton Keynes n/a n/a n/a n/a 370 180 850 570 
			 Former East Sussex 450 90 1,000 560 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 East Sussex (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 690 440 1,380 1,140 
			 Brighton and Hove n/a n/a n/a n/a 270 110 590 400 
			 Former Hampshire 1,680 420 3,160 1,530 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Hampshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,060 700 3,360 2,150 
			 Portsmouth n/a n/a n/a n/a 400 150 620 390 
			 Southampton n/a n/a n/a n/a 420 150 650 440 
			 Isle of Wight 100 50 180 190 150 210 350 450 
			 Former Kent 1,500 440 2,670 1,680 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Kent (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,810 1,100 4,440 3,300 
			 Medway n/a n/a n/a n/a 570 250 940 690 
			 Oxfordshire 450 190 900 640 850 590 1,700 1,400 
			 Surrey 810 140 1,680 760 1,760 510 2,960 1,630 
			 West Sussex 310 100 1,110 670 1,100 390 2,160 1,580 
			  
			  South West 3,310 830 6,960 4,590 8,210 3,600 13,970 10,500 
			 Isles of Scilly — — — — — — 10 — 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 130 20 210 160 120 80 400 380 
			 Bristol, City of 520 50 710 270 790 130 1,130 510 
			 North Somerset 150 20 240 170 270 100 430 370 
			 South Gloucestershire 220 20 360 200 460 110 620 420 
			 Cornwall 540 200 970 560 950 570 1,650 1,220 
			 Former Devon 520 120 1,420 980 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Devon (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,590 590 2,060 1,510 
			 Plymouth n/a n/a n/a n/a 510 230 810 710 
			 Torbay n/a n/a n/a n/a 160 100 400 340 
			 Former Dorset 230 110 710 600 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Dorset (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 760 410 1,000 950 
			 Poole n/a n/a n/a n/a 320 80 410 250 
			 Bournemouth n/a n/a n/a n/a 320 90 420 280 
			 Gloucestershire 320 40 600 460 550 350 1,350 1,140 
			 Somerset 380 120 870 590 820 410 1,530 1,210 
			 Former Wiltshire 310 130 870 600 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Wiltshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a n/a n/a 420 230 1,160 840 
			 Swindon n/a n/a n/a n/a 180 130 570 370 
			 n/a = Not applicable. "—" = Nil or negligible (1) Includes both full-time and the full-time equivalent of part-time support staff. (2) Includes nursery nurses, nursery assistants, literacy and numeracy support staff and any non-teaching staff regularly employed to support in the classroom expect from special needs and minority ethnic pupils support staff. (3) Includes teaching assistants.  Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.  Source:  School Census  
		
	
	
		
			  Full-time equivalent regular teachers( 1)  in local authority maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools ,  January 1997 and 2006 ,  by local authority area and government office region in England 
			   1997  2006 
			   Nursery/primary  Secondary  Nursery/primary  Secondary 
			  England 191,670 189,430 198,190 216,290 
			  
			  North East 10,400 10,790 10,070 11,440 
			 Gateshead 830 780 790 780 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 950 1,050 920 1,090 
			 North Tyneside 710 860 730 910 
			 South Tyneside 700 590 590 720 
			 Sunderland 1,310 1,210 1,180 1,360 
			 Hartlepool 400 400 410 430 
			 Middlesbrough 720 570 650 410 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 650 610 610 670 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 810 750 820 840 
			 Former Durham 2,470 2,260 n/a n/a 
			 Darlington n/a n/a 410 370 
			 Durham (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 2,060 2,040 
			 Northumberland 850 1700 890 1,820 
			  
			  North West 29,210 27,190 28,240 31,090 
			 Cumbria 1,990 1,980 2,060 2,600 
			 Former Cheshire 3,910 4,000 n/a n/a 
			 Cheshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 2,570 3,020 
			 Halton n/a n/a 520 570 
			 Warrington n/a n/a 880 950 
			 Bolton 1,230 1,130 1,140 1,300 
			 Bury 750 660 750 760 
			 Manchester 2,070 1,480 1,950 1,720 
			 Oldham 1,050 1,080 1,060 1,170 
			 Rochdale 940 830 940 910 
			 Salford 1,060 750 950 830 
			 Stockport 1,150 970 1,080 1,050 
			 Tameside 910 820 920 1,000 
			 Trafford 850 840 850 1,080 
			 Wigan 1,310 1,300 1,230 1,420 
			 Former Lancashire 5,710 5,410 n/a n/a 
			 Lancashire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 4,540 4,920 
			 Blackburn with Darwen n/a n/a 720 620 
			 Blackpool n/a n/a 570 560 
			 Knowsley 800 600 720 650 
			 Liverpool 2,110 1,960 1,850 2,190 
			 St. Helens 760 760 710 790 
			 Sefton 1,210 1,240 1,030 1,360 
			 Wirral 1,390 1,390 1,210 1,640 
			  
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 19,980 20,230 20,430 22,540 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 1,110 870 1,020 990 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 1,080 1,260 1,220 1,510 
			 North East Lincolnshire 680 640 680 680 
			 North Lincolnshire 610 630 590 720 
			 North Yorkshire 2,140 2,340 2,210 2,820 
			 York 630 600 620 700 
			 Barnsley 850 740 860 860 
			 Doncaster 1,290 1,290 1,240 1,360 
			 Rotherham 1,070 1,180 1,010 1,390 
			 Sheffield 1,960 1,650 1,940 1,980 
			 Bradford 1,830 2,640 2,310 2,150 
			 Calderdale 850 880 910 1,060 
			 Kirklees 1,620 1,540 1,760 1,710 
			 Leeds 2,940 2,760 2,770 3,170 
			 Wakefield 1,310 1,230 1,270 1,440 
			  
			  East Midlands 15,530 16,750 16,600 18,680 
			 Former Derbyshire 3,580 3,580 n/a n/a 
			 Derbyshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 2,840 3,220 
			 Derby n/a n/a 970 1,050 
			 Former Leicestershire 3,600 3,830 n/a n/a 
			 Leicestershire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 2,360 2,870 
			 Leicester n/a n/a 1,390 1,270 
			 Rutland n/a n/a 120 130 
			 Lincolnshire 2,290 2,610 2,460 3,040 
			 Northamptonshire 2,420 2,870 2,610 2,720 
			 Former Nottinghamshire 3,630 3,860 n/a n/a 
			 Nottinghamshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 2,750 3,380 
			 Nottingham n/a n/a 1,100 1,000 
			  
			  West Midlands 21,960 21,640 22,210 24,530 
			 Former Hereford and Worcester 2,330 2,790 n/a n/a 
			 Herefordshire n/a n/a 670 710 
			 Worcestershire n/a n/a 1,910 2,600 
			 Former Shropshire 1,580 1,640 n/a n/a 
			 Shropshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 1,010 1,180 
			 Telford and Wrekin n/a n/a 630 660 
			 Former Staffordshire 3,950 4,130 n/a n/a 
			 Staffordshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 2,920 3,830 
			 Stoke-on-Trent n/a n/a 940 950 
			 Warwickshire 1,870 1,840 1,940 2,220 
			 Birmingham 4,940 4,350 5,030 4,640 
			 Coventry 1,340 1,290 1,310 1,460 
			 Dudley 1,370 1,210 1,340 1,340 
			 Sandwell 1,370 1,220 1,340 1,340 
			 Solihull 900 890 920 1,000 
			 Walsall 1,180 1,260 1,180 1,410 
			 Wolverhampton 1,130 1,010 1,080 1,180 
			  
			  East of England 19,880 21,750 21,240 24,740 
			 Former Cambridgeshire 2,690 2,500 n/a n/a 
			 Cambridgeshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 2,120 2,000 
			 Peterborough n/a n/a 730 850 
			 Norfolk 3,010 2,740 3,040 3,070 
			 Suffolk 2,130 3,060 2,200 3,320 
			 Former Bedfordshire 2,050 2,750 n/a n/a 
			 Bedfordshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 1,270 2,270 
			 Luton n/a n/a 940 750 
			 Former Essex 6,000 6,090 n/a n/a 
			 Essex (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 5,050 5,800 
			 Southend-on-Sea n/a n/a 750 900 
			 Thurrock n/a n/a 650 580 
			 Hertfordshire 4,020 4,610 4,490 5,200 
			  
			  London 28,860 24,940 30,740 29,480 
			  Inner London 11,060 8,160 11,950 9,210 
			 Camden 610 780 600 750 
			 City of London 20 — 10 — 
			 Hackney 850 500 1,010 520 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 470 370 530 500 
			 Haringey 1,030 740 1,050 870 
			 Islington 820 520 760 600 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 380 260 420 250 
			 Lambeth 1,050 500 1,080 570 
			 Lewisham 1,010 750 1,070 720 
			 Newham 1,120 1,010 1,550 1,260 
			 Southwark 1,030 600 1,160 730 
			 Tower Hamlets 1,210 930 1,200 1,080 
			 Wandsworth 880 650 930 750 
			 Westminster 580 530 580 630 
			  Outer London 17,790 16,780 18,790 20,270 
			 Barking and Dagenham 750 680 780 860 
			 Barnet 1,290 1,420 1,340 1,370 
			 Bexley 890 910 910 1,100 
			 Brent 1,120 940 1,150 1,250 
			 Bromley 970 1,190 1,130 1,500 
			 Croydon 1,450 1,030 1,380 1,260 
			 Ealing 1,220 900 1,190 1,030 
			 Enfield 1,130 1,260 1,350 1,560 
			 Greenwich 1,030 880 1,080 1,120 
			 Harrow 960 570 970 630 
			 Havering 900 920 900 1,200 
			 Hillingdon 940 970 1,120 1,180 
			 Hounslow 920 1,010 920 1,170 
			 Kingston upon Thames 490 520 540 630 
			 Merton 700 460 680 530 
			 Redbridge 920 1,060 1,130 1,380 
			 Richmond upon Thames 550 480 600 450 
			 Sutton 580 730 670 1,020 
			 Waltham Forest 1,000 840 970 1,030 
			  
			  South East 28,650 28,440 30,550 33,220 
			 Former Berkshire 2,900 3,130 n/a n/a 
			 Bracknell Forest n/a n/a 420 380 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead n/a n/a 430 680 
			 West Berkshire n/a n/a 600 860 
			 Reading n/a n/a 490 420 
			 Slough n/a n/a 590 630 
			 Wokingham n/a n/a 590 730 
			 Former Buckinghamshire 2,730 2,360 n/a n/a 
			 Buckinghamshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 1,920 2,160 
			 Milton Keynes n/a n/a 1,050 1,000 
			 Former East Sussex 2,480 2,350 n/a n/a 
			 East Sussex (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 1,740 1,810 
			 Brighton and Hove n/a n/a 790 790 
			 Former Hampshire 6,090 5,340 n/a n/a 
			 Hampshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 4,680 4,520 
			 Portsmouth n/a n/a 680 610 
			 Southampton n/a n/a 790 780 
			 Isle of Wight 340 630 360 760 
			 Former Kent 5,890 6,740 n/a n/a 
			 Kent (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 5,390 6,710 
			 Medway n/a n/a 1,130 1,300 
			 Oxfordshire 1,920 2,150 2,260 2,480 
			 Surrey 3,660 3,200 3,700 3,630 
			 West Sussex 2,650 2,530 2,930 2,960 
			  South West 17,210 17,700 18,120 20,570 
			 Isles of Scilly 10 10 30 — 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 590 720 590 760 
			 Bristol, City of 1,550 1,120 1,480 1,070 
			 North Somerset 640 770 680 810 
			 South Gloucestershire 960 940 1,020 1,140 
			 Cornwall 1,770 1,780 1,910 2,170 
			 Former Devon 3,650 3,760 n/a n/a 
			 Devon (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 2,560 2,570 
			 Plymouth n/a n/a 840 1,160 
			 Torbay n/a n/a 440 600 
			 Former Dorset 1,980 2,550 n/a n/a 
			 Dorset (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 1,150 1,840 
			 Poole n/a n/a 460 560 
			 Bournemouth n/a n/a 490 620 
			 Gloucestershire 2,070 2,140 2,170 2,700 
			 Somerset 1,700 1,670 1,800 2,030 
			 Former Wiltshire 2,270 2,250 n/a n/a 
			 Wiltshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 1,740 1,830 
			 Swindon n/a n/a 770 720 
			 n/a = Not applicable. "—" = Nil or negligible. (1) Excludes occasional teachers.  Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.  Source: Annual survey of teachers in service and teacher vacancies 618g. 
		
	
	
		
			  F ull-time equivalent pupils in local authority maintained nursery/primary and secondary school s,  January 1997 and 2006, by local authority area and government office region in England 
			   1997  2006 
			   Nursery/primary  Secondary  Nursery/primary  Secondary 
			  England 4,300,860 3,041,580 4,041,790 3,306,360 
			  
			  North East 237,550 177,910 203,060 174,600 
			 Gateshead 17,730 11,750 15,470 11,770 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 22,090 17,380 19,910 16,730 
			 North Tyneside 15,990 14,370 15,200 13,650 
			 South Tyneside 15,520 9,720 12,190 9,970 
			 Sunderland 29,350 19,200 23,420 19,120 
			 Hartlepool 9,840 6,180 8,590 6,460 
			 Middlesbrough 16,000 8,610 12,910 5,580 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 15,370 10,160 12,360 10,010 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 19,030 12,520 16,090 12,590 
			 Former Durham 56,200 37,980 n/a n/a 
			 Darlington n/a n/a 8,600 6,260 
			 Durham (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 40,130 32,510 
			 Northumberland 20,430 30,050 18,180 29,960 
			  North West 671,170 437,760 580,470 462,310 
			 Cumbria 43,690 32,370 38,560 35,620 
			 Former Cheshire 90,760 65,770 n/a n/a 
			 Cheshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 53,500 46,960 
			 Halton n/a n/a 10,240 8,060 
			 Warrington n/a n/a 16,910 14,050 
			 Bolton 27,600 17,800 24,550 19,620 
			 Bury 17,530 11,100 15,470 11,810 
			 Manchester 45,650 22,230 40,550 23,500 
			 Oldham 24,370 16,680 22,770 16,550 
			 Rochdale 22,260 13,170 19,090 14,150 
			 Salford 24,260 12,080 19,330 11,820 
			 Stockport 26,750 15,680 22,970 16,320 
			 Tameside 22,800 14,220 19,080 15,660 
			 Trafford 20,210 13,230 18,490 16,240 
			 Wigan 29,420 19,980 25,470 20,890 
			 Former Lancashire 134,530 87,450 n/a n/a 
			 Lancashire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 92,780 75,120 
			 Blackburn with Darwen n/a n/a 14,830 9,420 
			 Blackpool n/a n/a 11,510 8,650 
			 Knowsley 18,420 9,670 14,460 9,530 
			 Liverpool 47,540 31,770 36,670 32,110 
			 St. Helens 17,360 11,870 14,990 11,760 
			 Sefton 27,020 19,630 22,500 20,420 
			 Wirral 31,020 23,080 25,770 24,060 
			  
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 459,900 334,070 425,330 345,540 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 26,900 15,080 21,160 15,770 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 26,610 20,790 25,340 23,560 
			 North East Lincolnshire 16,810 11,190 13,780 11,070 
			 North Lincolnshire 14,500 10,400 13,540 10,760 
			 North Yorkshire 46,750 37,040 43,500 41,890 
			 York 14,420 9,320 13,040 10,210 
			 Barnsley 20,890 12,930 19,330 13,710 
			 Doncaster 29,600 20,730 25,600 20,410 
			 Rotherham 24,590 19,150 22,820 20,360 
			 Sheffield 44,310 27,450 40,970 31,380 
			 Bradford 39,690 46,180 48,760 34,220 
			 Calderdale 19,720 14,070 18,140 15,540 
			 Kirklees 36,980 25,560 34,410 26,590 
			 Leeds 67,260 44,420 58,250 47,810 
			 Wakefield 30,890 19,760 26,700 22,270 
			  
			  East Midlands 363,510 272,020 348,280 295,860 
			 Former Derbyshire 85,700 58,890 n/a n/a 
			 Derbyshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 60,580 50,960 
			 Derby n/a n/a 20,930 15,660 
			 Former Leicestershire 81,260 61,800 n/a n/a 
			 Leicestershire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 48,190 46,790 
			 Leicester n/a n/a 26,770 17,890 
			 Rutland n/a n/a 2,480 2,410 
			 Lincolnshire 52,940 40,000 52,110 48,320 
			 Northamptonshire 53,710 45,930 55,580 45,260 
			 Former Nottinghamshire 89,890 65,400 n/a n/a 
			 Nottinghamshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 59,620 54,960 
			 Nottingham n/a n/a 22,020 13,600 
			  
			  West Midlands 498,520 350,640 456,940 375,190 
			 Former Hereford and Worcester 51,630 47,640 n/a n/a 
			 Herefordshire n/a n/a 12,680 10,390 
			 Worcestershire n/a n/a 37,380 40,860 
			 Former Shropshire 36,930 26,110 n/a n/a 
			 Shropshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 21,320 18,100 
			 Telford and Wrekin n/a n/a 14,680 10,540 
			 Former Staffordshire 95,770 71,710 n/a n/a 
			 Staffordshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 62,220 60,910 
			 Stoke-on-Trent n/a n/a 21,140 14,690 
			 Warwickshire 43,390 30,280 40,730 34,290 
			 Birmingham 107,800 66,870 100,400 70,270 
			 Coventry 29,400 19,740 25,930 21,210 
			 Dudley 29,400 18,910 27,100 20,750 
			 Sandwell 31,010 19,090 28,010 19,850 
			 Solihull 20,620 14,390 18,850 15,500 
			 Walsall 27,470 20,080 24,920 20,890 
			 Wolverhampton 25,100 15,840 21,570 16,950 
			  
			  East  o f England 437,170 348,220 429,810 389,630 
			 Former Cambridgeshire 60,520 42,020 n/a n/a 
			 Cambridgeshire (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 43,630 32,700 
			 Peterborough n/a n/a 15,240 13,180 
			 Norfolk 65,130 41,580 63,670 46,860 
			 Suffolk 45,610 49,610 43,680 54,160 
			 Former Bedfordshire 43,380 46,380 n/a n/a 
			 Bedfordshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 24,150 37,660 
			 Luton n/a n/a 18,470 12,300 
			 Former Essex 133,590 97,650 n/a n/a 
			 Essex (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 105,200 91,090 
			 Southend-on-Sea n/a n/a 13,790 12,600 
			 Thurrock n/a n/a 13,310 8,840 
			 Hertfordshire 88,940 70,980 88,670 80,250 
			  London 603,380 375,150 607,160 423,140 
			  Inner London 221,150 117,540 224,610 127,780 
			 Camden 11,130 10,930 11,370 9,950 
			 City of London 200 — 230 — 
			 Hackney 17,620 7,350 17,580 6,990 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 9,630 6,040 9,740 6,860 
			 Haringey 20,700 10,070 21,170 11,660 
			 Islington 16,180 7,580 14,320 8,060 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 6,700 3,310 7,250 3,510 
			 Lambeth 18,730 6,590 19,720 8,050 
			 Lewisham 21,090 10,860 21,180 11,000 
			 Newham 27,280 15,660 29,280 18,280 
			 Southwark 22,600 9,160 22,540 10,230 
			 Tower Hamlets 22,470 13,060 22,250 14,370 
			 Wandsworth 17,400 9,280 17,090 10,430 
			 Westminster 9,410 7,660 10,900 8,400 
			  Outer London 382,230 257,610 382,550 295,360 
			 Barking and Dagenham 16,830 10,140 17,410 12,630 
			 Barnet 25,150 19,780 25,310 19,550 
			 Bexley 21,400 15,320 19,850 18,320 
			 Brent 21,910 13,570 22,730 16,420 
			 Bromley 24,200 18,650 23,720 22,420 
			 Croydon 29,750 15,480 28,630 18,620 
			 Ealing 25,800 14,180 24,800 15,180 
			 Enfield 25,170 18,960 26,160 22,150 
			 Greenwich 21,120 13,640 20,480 14,540 
			 Harrow 19,460 8,300 19,040 9,040 
			 Havering 20,670 14,700 18,940 16,590 
			 Hillingdon 20,780 15,010 22,710 17,080 
			 Hounslow 18,660 15,290 17,830 16,590 
			 Kingston upon Thames 10,860 8,180 11,070 9,570 
			 Merton 14,710 7,620 13,810 8,600 
			 Redbridge 20,280 16,840 22,860 20,650 
			 Richmond upon Thames 11,220 7,690 12,270 7,160 
			 Sutton 13,870 12,420 14,220 16,160 
			 Waltham Forest 20,420 11,840 20,710 14,070 
			  
			  South East 639,790 454,810 615,660 514,190 
			 Former Berkshire 63,540 49,650 n/a n/a 
			 Bracknell Forest n/a n/a 8,410 6,200 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead n/a n/a 8,410 10,280 
			 West Berkshire n/a n/a 11,810 12,240 
			 Reading n/a n/a 9,980 6,030 
			 Slough n/a n/a 11,300 8,910 
			 Wokingham n/a n/a 11,800 10,810 
			 Former Buckinghamshire 64,250 38,310 n/a n/a 
			 Buckinghamshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 38,400 35,140 
			 Milton Keynes n/a n/a 20,650 15,100 
			 Former East Sussex 53,570 36,280 n/a n/a 
			 East Sussex (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 35,200 28,700 
			 Brighton and Hove n/a n/a 16,320 12,130 
			 Former Hampshire 137,760 86,210 n/a n/a 
			 Hampshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 97,010 72,670 
			 Portsmouth n/a n/a 13,860 9,780 
			 Southampton n/a n/a 15,880 11,490 
			 Isle of Wight 7,310 10,970 6,890 12,150 
			 Former Kent 135,290 104,810 n/a n/a 
			 Kent (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 108,750 98,940 
			 Medway n/a n/a 22,120 20,390 
			 Oxfordshire 43,790 36,530 44,690 37,760 
			 Surrey 76,340 51,700 77,070 59,620 
			 West Sussex 57,940 40,340 57,110 45,850 
			  
			  South West 389,870 291,010 375,070 325,910 
			 Isles of Scilly 160 110 250 — 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 12,870 11,480 11,980 12,620 
			 Bristol, City of 33,910 16,520 29,770 15,480 
			 North Somerset 14,650 11,880 14,740 13,000 
			 South Gloucestershire 22,410 15,220 22,030 17,100 
			 Cornwall 40,310 29,820 38,520 32,870 
			 Former Devon 83,650 62,050 n/a n/a 
			 Devon (post 1.4.98) n/a n/a 52,440 43,420 
			 Plymouth n/a n/a 18,960 18,550 
			 Torbay n/a n/a 9,500 9,230 
			 Former Dorset 46,300 43,580 n/a n/a 
			 Dorset (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 24,520 30,170 
			 Poole n/a n/a 10,260 8,690 
			 Bournemouth n/a n/a 10,320 9,890 
			 Gloucestershire 46,200 34,960 43,360 40,710 
			 Somerset 38,150 28,850 36,470 33,130 
			 Former Wiltshire 51,290 36,550 n/a n/a 
			 Wiltshire (post 1.4.97) n/a n/a 35,310 29,440 
			 Swindon n/a n/a 16,620 11,620 
			 n/a = Not applicable. "—" = Nil or negligible.  Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.  Source: School Census

Schools: Rural Areas

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of rural schools which are likely to close in each year to 2015.

Jim Knight: The Department has not made an estimate of the number of rural schools which are likely to close in each year to 2015. Decisions about school closures are made by the local authority, or schools adjudicator. When considering proposals, local authorities and the schools adjudicator are required to have regard to statutory guidance which contains a presumption against closing rural primary schools. While this does not mean that no rural primary school will ever close, the case for closure must be strong and in the best interests of educational provision in the area.
	Local authorities are responsible for the overall planning of school places in their area and we expect them to ensure that school places are where parents want them.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what evidence the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority had that the new secondary curriculum will be effective; and if he will place in the Library copies of that evidence.

Jim Knight: The revised curriculum will be effective in providing flexibility for catch up classes in English and mathematics; effective in providing flexibility to allow pupils to extend and deepen their understanding in areas where they have particular aptitudes and interests; and effective in providing pupils with the personal attributes and practical life skills they will need for success at work and in their daily lives.
	The approach taken by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in developing the new curriculum builds on evidence from work carried out with schools and colleges going back a number of years. For example, the 'futures in action' programme, which has been running since 2005, has continued to demonstrate a high degree of consensus about many of the characteristics of how the curriculum should be shaped, QCA's work is also supported by the results of its international comparisons and its annual curriculum monitoring programme which includes interviews and questionnaires with head teachers, deputy heads, teachers and pupils.
	It is not practical to collect all of this research evidence, from the UK and abroad, and to place copies of all relevant documents in the Libraries of the House. However, much of this information can be accessed via the QCA's website at:
	www.qca.org.uk/curriculum

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will ask the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to publish the agenda and minutes of the external committee for the secondary curriculum.

Jim Knight: The Department has no plans to ask the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to publish the agendas and minutes of its Secondary Curriculum Review External Committee.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will conduct a comparative analysis of the proposed secondary curriculum and the curricula of those education systems that perform best in international comparisons.

Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has been compiling comparative information on curriculum and assessment frameworks since 1996. The work is managed and updated by the International Information Unit at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). It provides descriptions of government policy on education for 20 countries.
	The countries concerned are; Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA and Wales.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what revisions were made to the revised national curriculum programmes of study following the statutory consultation process.

Jim Knight: Changes were made to the mathematics programmes of study to develop the key concepts to make them more in line with those in other subjects and to show what underpins the study of mathematics. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority met with the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education to discuss the changes.
	Revisions were made to the key concepts, key processes and range and content of citizenship programmes of study to provide greater clarity of what should be offered in the light of Sir Keith Ajegbo's review on diversity and citizenship.
	The modern foreign languages programme of study was amended to provide an illustrative list of the European and major world languages which can be taught.
	Changes were made to retain 'systems and control' and 'resistant materials' as elements of compulsory study within the Key Stage 3 design and technology curriculum.
	Changes were made to align better the personal wellbeing programmes of study with the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) programme.
	The economic wellbeing programmes of study were renamed economic wellbeing and financial capability.
	In other subjects drafting changes were made to provide greater clarity.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  how many responses to the secondary curriculum statutory consultation relating to a programme of study at Key Stages 3 and 4 were received from parents, broken down by subject;
	(2)  whether the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority actively sought the involvement of parents during the statutory consultation period for the new secondary curriculum;
	(3)  how many parents were involved with activities undertaken by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority on the statutory consultation period for the new secondary curriculum;
	(4)  how many events for parents were held by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as part of the consultation process for the secondary curriculum review.

Jim Knight: There were no specific consultations with parents covering the programmes of study for particular subjects.
	The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, working with St. Martin's College, held two consultation events for parents in Sandwell on 16 March 2007 and in Bristol on 22 March 2007. QCA also exhibited at the education show, which was widely attended by parents and teachers, though numbers were not collected.
	The widespread media coverage generated by the consultation launch and subsequent features and newspaper supplements were designed to ensure that all parents could engage with the review if they so wished.

Secondary Education: Sponsorship

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will make a statement on his policy that every secondary school should have a business and university partner.

Jim Knight: It is the aspiration of the Government for every secondary school to have a business and university or college partner. Already over 85 per cent. of secondary schools through becoming specialist schools, have developed relationships with local businesses. We currently have over 200 secondary, primary and special schools working towards Trust status, which will cement partnerships with the private sector, HE and FE sectors, and voluntary sector, in order to support strong school leadership. The right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced on 10 July his intention to encourage universities to take a much greater role in the academies programme, and announced the abolition of the requirement for universities and high performing schools and colleges to provide £2 million before they can sponsor an academy.
	The Secretary of State has invited the National Council for Educational Excellence to advise him on how businesses, universities and colleges can play a bigger part in support of schools, and on how independent and maintained schools can work together to raise standards for the benefit of all.

Teachers: Autism

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to promote specialist teacher training for teachers dealing with children with autism.

Jim Knight: All teachers, as part of their initial teacher training and induction period, must demonstrate that they can differentiate their teaching to meet the needs of pupils, including those with special educational needs or disabilities, and know how to seek advice from those with specialist knowledge, such as the school's SEN Co-ordinator.
	Once qualified, all teachers are expected to discuss their own development needs in performance management reviews, and to address development priorities. This could include strengthening knowledge and understanding of SEN, including autism. Where schools have identified a need to strengthen knowledge and understanding of SEN or disabilities, as a school priority, this should be addressed through their school improvement and development plans.
	All schools receive a School Development Grant which they are able to use to support improvements in any aspect of teaching and learning. This includes professional development. A wide variety of courses are available covering SEN and disabilities, ranging from awareness-raising through to in-depth studies leading to specific qualifications. It is, however, a matter for individual teachers and their schools to determine their own particular training and development needs. Local authorities may retain a proportion of this grant, under certain conditions, to provide specific training and development of SEN.
	In 2002, we published jointly with the Department of Health, 'Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Good Practice Guidance' which offered a series of pointers to good practice, including a number on in-service training. The guidance advised that
	"all those who plan or provide for children with ASD should have some knowledge and understanding of autism".
	In October 2007, the Department plans to formally launch its Inclusion Development Programme which will help enhance teacher confidence in key areas of SEN, The programme will focus initially on speech, language and communication needs and dyslexia, since the ability to communicate is fundamental to learning and progression for all children with SEN and disabilities. It is envisaged that it will then address the needs of learners with ASD and BESD, with other types of needs covered over time.
	The Department is also working with voluntary sector organisations and others to support the establishment of an Autism Trust, which will aim to improve teachers' specialist skills in working with children with ASD. We will announce further details later this year.

Teachers: Bureaucracy

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps were taken to reduce the bureaucratic burden on teachers in each year since 2000-01; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Since 2000/01 the Government have taken a number of actions to address the bureaucratic burden on teachers and we continue to work to ensure that teachers' time is spent on key activities that support teaching and learning.
	The key to helping schools and teachers on the ground is the new relationship with schools. The Department has built a new relationship with schools aimed at reducing bureaucratic burdens on them while reinforcing school autonomy at the same time as sharpening school accountability. This relationship included the introduction of a new inspection framework which halves the time and effort schools expend on inspection while focusing inspection even more closely on improving teaching and learning. The new relationship is also supporting and simplifying schools' external accountability by the deployment of a nationally accredited School Improvement Partner to every school.
	The Government, employers and a majority of school work force unions signed 'Raising Standards and Tackling Workload: a National Agreement' in 2003. This set out a number of changes to teachers' contracts intended to bring downward pressure on working hours and these were implemented between 2003 and 2005.
	The agreement included a provision that teachers could no longer be required routinely to undertake a range of administrative or clerical tasks.
	Implementation of the National Agreements' provisions have been overseen by the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (made up of the Agreement's signatories) and the group continues to work to ensure that teachers and head teachers have conditions of service which enable them to focus on their core roles of teaching and leading and managing teaching and learning.
	In 2003 my Department also set up the implementation Review Unit (IRU) comprising representatives from among head teachers, teachers and support staff currently working in schools. Appointed through an open, public appointments process, this was the first ever panel of this type to scrutinise the work of a major Government Department. Working independently of, but in partnership with the Department and its agencies, the IRU both challenge and support the Department on examining policy design and implementation from a burdens and bureaucracy perspective.
	We have also rationalised data collections and set up a system to ensure that we collect only essential data from schools, scrutinised by external practitioners through a Star Chamber Board on which head teachers sit. Wherever possible data is collected by sample and data is collected once only and used many times. This has led to a significant decrease in the number of requests for new data from schools.
	The Department takes the views of schools and teachers very seriously. Discussions with head teachers and detailed research showed that schools wanted to be able to choose the printed publications they needed, when they needed them, and to be able to order multiple copies. In response to this, we stopped regular paper mailings to all schools; and since December 2004, have successfully introduced an online ordering service where schools are now able to either download or order paper based copies of publications they need. A regular fortnightly e-mail is sent to schools to inform them of new publications.

Teachers: Pay

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent discussion he has had with the Schoolteachers' Review Body on  (a) holding a review into the level of teachers' pay and  (b) the level of teachers' pay; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Government submitted written evidence to the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) on 24 May, in respect of the remit set on 29 March, and the Secretary of State and I attended an oral evidence session with the STRB on 12 July. The Secretary of State also wrote to the chairman of the STRB on 5 June about the current pay award.

Teachers: Recruitment

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding has been allocated to the Teach First scheme for each of the next five years.

Jim Knight: We have confirmed that Teach First will be expanding (indeed this was announced in the Budget 2005). Precise funding allocations to the teacher training providers and schools working with Teach First depend on numbers recruited against agreed targets.

Teachers: Recruitment

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to attract more of the best graduates into teaching; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The highly successful advertising campaigns run by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) have contributed significantly to increases in graduate recruitment to teaching, and there is evidence that this has had a positive effect on schools' ability to attract high quality teachers. Teacher vacancy rates are, at 0.6 per cent., now considerably lower than rates for other comparable professions.
	Over 75 per cent. of new entrants to teacher training are now graduates who take a Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) or career changers on employment-based routes such as the Graduate Teacher Programme. More trainee teachers than ever have a degree at 2:1 or higher.
	We offer a training bursary of £9,000 to those taking a PGCE in shortage subjects, which currently include maths, science, English, modern foreign languages, technology, music and religious education. A golden hello of £5,000 is also paid for maths and science (£2,500 for the other shortage subjects) when a new teacher has completed their induction in schools. A bursary of £6,000 is offered to trainees taking a primary PGCE or a PGCE in history, geography and physical education.
	During the past five years we have been running the Student Associate Scheme which focuses on maths, physics and chemistry and places high quality undergraduates in schools for up to 15 days to provide curriculum support for teachers and to carry out project work with pupils. It also gives participants a taste of teaching as a career. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills has just announced that participation in the scheme is to be doubled.
	The Government also provides funding for Teach First a relatively new programme which recruits and trains particularly high quality graduates to teach shortage subjects in challenging schools for two years, with the option to make a longer term career in teaching beyond this time, in his statement to the House on 10 July, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families said that he will consult on a new "Teach Next" programme to promote mid-career routes into teaching, especially for people from industry and the sciences.

Teaching Methods: Finance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what total funding was allocated for personalised learning in each year since 2004-05, broken down by initiative; what the planned figures are for each year to 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: No funding was specifically allocated for personalised learning in 2004-05.
	In 2006/07 £500 million was allocated for personalised learning.
	In 2007/08 £990 million was allocated.
	This money was included in schools base budgets, with no conditions of grant, and was not allocated to specific initiatives. Our guidance to schools indicated that our priorities for the funding were: to support intervention and catch-up provision for children who have fallen behind in English and maths; to support the education of gifted and talented learners; and to help learners from deprived backgrounds to access after school and year-round activities.
	The CSR full allocations (for the period 2008-11) for personalised learning will be announced in due course. This will include funding for two areas of work that have already been announced:
	£150 million (£50 million in each of the three years of the CSR period) for Assessment for Learning, a key element of personalising learning. This was announced by the Secretary of State in his statement on 10 July.
	Funding to support 300,000 pupils to receive one-to-one tuition in English and Maths, 30,000 children being supported by the Every Child a Reader programme; and the establishment of the Every Child Counts programme. This was announced in Budget 2007.
	Extended schools are also an important part of personalising learning for all children. The Secretary of State announced a subsidy of £265 million for extended schools over the CSR period on 10 July. This consists of £8.5 million in 2008-09, £40 million in 2009-10 and £217 million in 2010-11. This extra investment is to help disadvantaged children to access out-of-school activities, which can support their learning.

Aimhigher Programme: Finance

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what plans his Department has to fund the Aim Higher programme beyond September 2008.

Bill Rammell: While the overall CSR settlement for DfES has been announced we are working through the implications of the recent machinery of government changes and are not yet in a position to comment on specific programmes. We hope to be in a position to make an announcement in the near future.

Apprentices

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what percentage of apprenticeships are  (a) work-based and  (b) college-based; and if he will make a statement on the future of apprenticeships.

Bill Rammell: In England 100 per cent. of Learning and Skills Council funded apprentices must spend a significant period of their learning in a work-based environment in employment in order to complete a full apprenticeship. In addition, some learners participate in programme led apprenticeships (PLAs) in preparation for full apprenticeships. PLAs enable learners to take some of the required apprenticeship qualifications, such as Key Skills, in a FE college or with another provider before taking up employment as an apprentice. In 2005/06, 24,580 learners, 12.3 per cent. of the combined total of 199,480 PLA and apprenticeship starts, started a programme led apprenticeship and 174,900 or 87.7 per cent. started an apprenticeship in employment.
	The apprenticeship programme has been extremely successful with the number of apprentices in learning rising threefold since 1997and now standing at some 250,000. Quality has also improved with the completion rate now standing at almost 60 per cent., up from just 24 per cent. five years ago. As a result, the apprenticeship programme is recognised as the principal route for acquiring nationally recognised, high quality occupational skills which contribute to the strength of our economy. We now want to build on that success by expanding the programme further so that in 2013 any suitably qualified young person will be entitled to an apprenticeship place. In addition we have accepted the recommendation of the Leitch Review of Skills for a target of 500,000 apprentices in learning in the UK by 2020.

Departments: Ethnic Groups

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will make a statement on his policy on support for minority groups within his Department.

David Lammy: The Department was established on 28 June 2007, but like predecessor Departments, we will be putting an Equality and Diversity delivery plan in place as a key part of our human resources strategy.

Departments: Racial Harassment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many complaints of racial abuse relating to staff for which his Department is responsible have been  (a) investigated and  (b) upheld in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: No complaints of racial abuse were investigated in the Department in the last 12 months. Formal complaints of racial abuse would be investigated quickly and thoroughly and, where complaints were upheld, appropriate disciplinary action would be taken. All cases are treated seriously.
	The Department believes that each and every individual has the right to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect. As such, we do not tolerate unacceptable behaviour towards others. The overall aim of our harassment and bullying policy is to prevent such unacceptable behaviour occurring but, where it does occur, to ensure that appropriate and effective action is taken to deal with it and prevent it happening again. This applies to everyone in the Department. Every individual is personally responsible for their own behaviour, and every manager is responsible for enforcing the policy in accordance with the guidance and procedures set out in our Staff Handbook.

Education: Finance

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much funding each relevant education institution received for improving retention in each of the last 10 years.

Bill Rammell: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates funding directly to higher education institutions towards the costs of widening participation activities. Since 2003-04 this allocation has included an element for improving retention, which is intended to increase student success. I have arranged for a table to be placed in the House of Commons Library detailing the amounts of funding allocated to each institution for the four years from 2003-04 to 2006-07. There was no specific allocation to institutions for improving retention prior to 2003-04: institutions then, as now, were expected to support student retention activities from within their overall block grant.
	Student success within institutions arises from a wide range of factors including teaching quality and student support services. Supporting student success is therefore intrinsically linked with the total investment that institutions make, of which the improving retention element of the widening participation allocation is just one part.

Postgraduate Education

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what plans he has to encourage more UK-domiciled graduates to study at postgraduate level.

Bill Rammell: Between 1996-97 and 2005-06 the latest year for which data are available, the number of UK domiciled students entering higher education to study at postgraduate level rose by 35,000 (26 per cent.) to 170,000. We will continue to support our world class higher education system so that it remains attractive to students, whatever their background.

Postgraduate Education: Social Class

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what percentage of postgraduates were from socioeconomic classes four to seven in each of the last 10 years, broken down by subject.

Bill Rammell: The latest information for enrolments on postgraduate courses by subject of study are given in the tables. A new classification for recording subject of study was introduced in 2002/03 and so figures from 2002/03 onwards are not comparable to earlier years.
	Figures for postgraduate enrolments by social class are not available.
	
		
			  Number of UK domiciled postgraduate enrolments at higher education institutions in England (excluding the Open University) by subject of study, 1995/96 to 2001/02 
			  Subject of study  1995/96  1996/97  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02 
			 Medicine and dentistry 6,220 7,075 7,230 7,410 7,670 7,855 8,165 
			 Subjects allied to medicine 10,070 11,040 12,130 13,605 14,195 15,600 17,615 
			 Biological sciences 8,445 9,320 9,485 9,965 10,330 10,540 10,765 
			 Veterinary sciences 240 305 250 255 245 230 260 
			 Agriculture and related 785 805 895 970 1,015 1,225 1,370 
			 Physical sciences 9,740 9,610 8,790 8,575 8,355 8,080 8,135 
			 Mathematical sciences 2,210 2,020 1,815 1,635 1,740 1,790 2,115 
			 Computer sciences 6,600 7,010 7,455 8,380 8,825 9,075 9,090 
			 Engineering and technology 12,555 12,185 12,205 12,385 11,245 12,715 12,840 
			 Architecture, building and planning 6,540 7,185 6,755 6,985 6,355 6,360 6,765 
			 Social economic and political studies 17,505 18,070 17,875 18,425 17,845 17,790 18,180 
			 Law 7,930 7,820 8,410 8,690 9,140 10,190 10,840 
			 Business and administrative studies 34,110 37,415 38,450 38,540 38,740 37,365 37,605 
			 Librarianship and information science 2,665 2,960 3,075 3,220 3,530 3,855 3,920 
			 Languages 5,870 5,990 5,945 5,945 6,105 5,830 6,045 
			 Humanities 6,970 7,525 7,695 8,065 7,880 7,900 8,080 
			 Creative arts and design 5,560 6,080 6,315 6,355 6,710 6,780 6,840 
			 Education 46,310 47,895 48,625 48,885 48,220 51,585 54,660 
			 Combined 3,230 3,200 3,355 3,700 3,925 4,200 4,515 
			 Total 193,550 203,525 206,750 211,985 212,065 218,970 227,800 
			  Note: Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December excluding those writing up, on sabbatical or dormant. Students from the Open University are also excluded from the analysis. Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.  Source:  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of UK domiciled postgraduate enrolments at higher education institutions in England (excluding the Open University) by subject of study, 2002/03 to 2005/06 
			  Subject of study  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05  2005/06 
			 Medicine and dentistry 7,955 8,040 8,355 8,515 
			 Subjects allied to medicine 19,240 21,940 23,880 24,520 
			 Biological sciences 13,240 13,790 14,200 14,625 
			 Veterinary sciences 235 270 285 340 
			 Agriculture and related sciences 1,470 1,310 1,175 1,085 
			 Physical sciences 8,165 8,275 7,940 7,930 
			 Mathematical sciences 2,060 2,540 2,095 2,125 
			 Computer sciences 8,625 7,855 6,905 6,055 
			 Engineering and technology 11,985 11,285 11,235 10,520 
			 Architecture, building and planning 6,775 6,840 6,965 7,715 
			 Social sciences 17,490 18,145 17,940 18,500 
			 Law 12,320 12,275 12,075 11,895 
			 Business and administrative studies 40,305 37,585 36,565 35,375 
			 Mass communications and documentation 3,805 3,790 3,740 3,740 
			 Languages 6,555 6,765 6,380 6,300 
			 Historical and philosophical studies 8,295 8,395 7,855 7,880 
			 Creative arts and design 7,295 7,600 7,560 7,735 
			 Education 57,710 61,340 64,020 66,235 
			 Combined 780 830 615 640 
			 Total 234,315 238,875 239,790 241,730 
			  Note: Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December excluding those writing up, on sabbatical or dormant. Students from the Open University are also excluded from the analysis. Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.  Source:  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record

Students: Expenditure

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the total cost was to the public purse of student maintenance support to  (a) part-time undergraduate and  (b) full-time undergraduate students in each of the last three academic years.

Bill Rammell: The cost to Government of student maintenance support for the last three financial years is shown in the following table. Figures exclude fee grants and fee loans paid to higher educations institutions:
	
		
			  £000 
			  Financial year  Full- time maintenance support—student loans in RAB terms( 1)  and student grants  Part- time maintenance support 
			 2004-05 outturn 690,907 8,368 
			 2005-06 outturn 871,843 12,871 
			 2006-07 estimated outturn 1,066,464 18,400 
			 (1) The student loans RAB charge estimates the future cost to Government of subsidising and writing off student loans issued in that year. It does not show cash lent to students, which has risen each year since the introduction of student loans.

Business Council for Britain

Mark Hoban: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  what the remit is of  (a) the Business Council for Britain and  (b) the Chancellor's High-Level Group;
	(2)  how often he expects to meet the members of the Business Council for Britain;
	(3)  what steps he plans to put in place to ensure that the work of the Business Council for Britain does not overlap with that of the Chancellor's High-Level Group;
	(4)  whether minutes of the meetings of the Business Council for Britain will be published.

Gordon Brown: As Chancellor I announced in the Budget 2006 a commitment to work with the financial sector to establish a High-level Group to develop and support a new strategy to promote London as the leading international financial centre. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor (Mr. Darling) will continue this work with the High-level Group.
	On the Business Council for Britain, which will assist the Government in putting in place the right strategy to promote the long-term health of the UK economy, I refer the hon. Member to my written statement on 28 June 2007,  Official Report, column 36WS.

Departments: Official Visits

David Simpson: To ask the Prime Minister how much was spent on overnight accommodation by civil servants within his Office's areas of responsibilities in the last 12 months.

Gordon Brown: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Gillian Merron) on 12 July 2007,  Official Report, column 1641W.

Departments: Racial Harassment

David Simpson: To ask the Prime Minister how many complaints of racial abuse relating to staff for which he is responsible have been  (a) investigated and  (b) upheld in the last 12 months.

Gordon Brown: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Gillian Merron) on 12 July 2007,  Official Report, column 1641W.

Members: Surveillance

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister whether it is his policy that no authorisation will be given for the interception of communications in respect of  (a) hon. Members and  (b) Members of the House of Lords; and if he will make a statement.

Gordon Brown: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my predecessor (Mr. Blair) on 27 November 2006,  Official Report, column 330W.

Middle East: Special Envoy

Dai Davies: To ask the Prime Minister what discussions he has had with the  (a) United States President,  (b) Russian President,  (c) UN Secretary-General and  (d) Presidents of the European Commission and Council on the appointment of a special envoy on behalf of the Quartet Initiative in the Middle East.

Gordon Brown: I have discussed the Middle East Peace Process with a wide range of world leaders.

Ministers: Pay

David Amess: To ask the Prime Minister what the total cost was of  (a) ministerial salaries and  (b) private offices in each government Department in 2006-07.

Gordon Brown: A full list of ministerial salaries is available on the civil service website:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/other/parliamentary/pay/index.asp
	A copy of the list has been placed in the House Library. The information requested in respect of Private Offices is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.